Smoke and Mirrors
by Gaswn
Summary: War comes to Naboo, making ordinary people into heroes and heroes into legends. She was a warrior armed with deception. A royal decoy faces her past and fights for her future. Sabewan. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

**Title - **Smoke and Mirrors

**Author - **Gaswn

**Ratings – **T (violence, and just unpleasantness. Just in case)

**Genre – **Drama

**Pairings – **Sabe / Obi-Wan friendship, eventual Sabewan

**Summary – **War comes to Naboo, making ordinary people into heroes and heroes into legends. She was a warrior armed with deception. A royal decoy faces her past and fights for her future. Sabewan.

**Disclaimer- **Don't own 'em, and I'm not worth suing.

**Author's notes: **This is my first fanfiction. Any reviews will be greatly appreciated and any flames will be taken as compliments.

Prologue 

_Coruscant, 42 BBY_

The evening horizon was still painted with the spectacular colors of sunset in red, gold, and purple on a putrid canvas of smog. But in the cavernous avenues of Coruscant's underworld, it could have been midnight. The fading light, blocked by towering buildings, never made it to ground level. Soot, urine, cooking food, and home brewed alcohol made the air below all but unbearable, and the mass of residents of every species and language was dense. Some of them were coming home from work, others making their way towards it. Others were just seeking hard for some sort of trouble to get into. None appeared to be in a good mood.

The ginger-haired teenager propped against a streetlight was no exception. He had been at his post for two hours, and his angular, attractive face was contorted by a terrible scowl. His youth and undistinguished brown clothing made him invisible to passers-by. Indeed, some of them walked right into him, and each time it happened, his scowl deepened.

If any of them had taken the time to notice him, they might have observed the glint of metal at his belt whenever his cloak slipped open, or the attitude of expectation behind the frown, with frequent glances toward a bar a block away.

It was his third year with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and still he had not grown accustomed to being left behind. This time when they had donned civilian clothing, he had been sure that his Master would allow him to participate in the undercover operation, even if he wasn't yet old enough to drink. But when they had finally found the bar where an interplanetary Glitterstim operation was supposedly headquartered, the older man had instructed him to wait and had gone in alone.

The boy counted slowly to ten, thinking of all the lessons about serenity he had learned from Master Yoda in the Temple. _Anger leads to hate, hate leads to…_

Suddenly he stiffened, irritation forgotten. The scowl fell away entirely, leaving behind an uncanny look of focus that was unsettling in someone so young.

There had been a disturbance in the Force; a shiver, like a breeze across he surface of a pond. He scanned the street, his hand falling to rest by the light saber beneath his cloak. But no one in the streets attracted his special attention. They were all just the usual streetwalkers, hustlers, food vendors, and a few animals scouring for scraps between quickly walking feet.

He was unprepared for the impact directly in his knees. He grunted in pain as they hyper-flexed against the force of a small body hurtling directly into them. His vision swam.

When he recovered himself he was face to face with a small auburn-haired child with large brown eyes. She looked as if she had crawled straight out of a gutter, with dirt smudging her face and hands, and threadbare clothing so coated in grime and soot that it was impossible to tell the original colors. She sat where she had fallen hard on her bottom, staring at him reproachfully as if he had run into her.

"Steady on, young one," he said, the diminutive almost laughable from a speaker so young himself. He stretched out a hand to help her up. "You could get hurt racing around like that."

She looked at the proffered hand for a moment. Then she turned her luminous eyes back to him and gave him an insolent wink. Gathering her ragged cloak around her as if she held something within, she scrambled to her feet and was running off before he could say anything further.

The boy withdrew his hand and shook his head, puzzling over her strange behavior. And that shiver in the Force…

Well, he would ask Qui-Gon about it when he came back. He turned back into the direction of the bar to watch for his master once more.

It was only as he turned with his cloak swishing softly around him that he missed the familiar weight at his hip. With a cry of dismay he whirled back toward where the girl had disappeared. "Hey!"

He started after her at a dead run.

She had a three-stride head start, and the throngs of people in the street seemed to close in on him as he rushed to catch up. Nevertheless, after a block or two he could see her ahead, twisting between hips and past the ankles of people who barely seemed to notice her presence. The same people shouted with anger as the boy pushed past.

The crowd thinned as they left the main street and the girl ducked down an alleyway, with the boy skidding on his heels to follow. She scrambled over a dilapidated wooden barrier at the end of it with surprising agility. The boy groaned in his throat and then used his momentum to carry him partway up, enough to grab the top and swing over.

The child moved like a Coruscanti rat, and he was becoming very irritated with the chase. _Little brat probably ran into me escaping her previous victim,_ he thought grimly as he followed her into an open-air market. He narrowly dodged a gang of air scooters, and craned his neck. Twenty feet away, he saw a tawny head duck down a flight of stairs.

Her advantage was her obvious knowledge of the area and her experience in being chased. His was the Force. He smirked and darted to the left. Behind a group of food carts was a low wall marking a sheer drop. Leaping lightly over it, he landed catlike from a fall that would have broken a normal person's legs. He only had to wait a moment there before he reached out and plucked the girl out of midair.

She was stunned for a beat, but then she became a demon in his grasp; biting, kicking and shrieking in a wordless wail that had the boy casting his eyes around, alarmed. "Settle down!" he said in the most commanding tone he could muster.

But the girl would have none of it. Twisting her body in an almost impossible arch, she sank her teeth into his arm. He lost his hold with a cry. She hit the ground running and was out of sight amidst the crowd before he could blink.

Choking back curses in several languages and holding his arm, the boy almost missed the tingling warning of his Master's presence.

"Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon called from the staircase, taking the steps two at a time.

Obi-Wan turned to him, his face going crimson. "A little girl, Master. She picked my pockets and is running off with my light saber."

"This is a problem," Qui-Gon said, his eyes twinkling. "A Jedi must never be defeated by an adversary under ten."

Obi-Wan resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, and pointed down the street in the direction he'd last seen her.

"Hmm," Qui-Gon said, considering. "There is a street that runs parallel to this one, and an alley that joins them two blocks down. I will take this street, and you will take the other and we will cut her off in that alley."

He was off before Obi-Wan could ask how he knew she would be there. Obi-Wan muttered an oath and made for the adjoining street.

Of course Qui-Gon was right, as he nearly always was about matters of the Living Force. The girl must have decided that she'd lost him. When he turned into the alley his Master had indicated, she was sitting between two trash receptacles in a pile of rubbish, the light saber in her hands. Qui-Gon was nowhere in sight.

Obi-Wan slowed to a walk, hoping to get hold of her before she even noticed his presence. But as he watched in horror, the girl's hand brushed over the red button on the side of the handle, and the blue blade advanced, buzzing ominously. The girl started back, and then raised her other hand to touch the light saber's blade.

"No!" Obi-Wan shouted, and held out his hand.

He had never had much success at moving matter with the Force, which was why he was as shocked as she was when the light saber deactivated and whizzed through the air into his hands.

They stared at one another with wide eyes.

"Well done, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said, jogging into the alley.

Obi-Wan ducked his head in embarrassed pleasure.

Qui-Gon walked toward the little girl as one might approach a feral tusk cat and knelt before her, placing himself at eye level. "And what's this?"

"A child," Obi-Wan replied, distaste dripping from every syllable.

For her part, the girl couldn't seem to decide whether to glare at Obi-Wan or cower under Qui-Gon's intense scrutiny.

"So I see," Qui-Gon said. "Well, youngling, you have given my apprentice quite a chase."

Obi-Wan gaped as he and the girl shared a secret smile.

Qui-Gon grasped her arm to help her to her feet, but as soon as his fingers closed around her thin wrist he frowned, his high forehead furrowing. "This girl is—"  
"Force sensitive," Obi-Wan finished for him. "She used it to swipe my light saber." He tucked his weapon back into his belt.

"Used it?" Qui-Gon said disbelievingly. He looked at the girl for confirmation, but she just stared back with her large, inscrutable brown eyes.

"You use your abilities to steal," Obi-Wan said to the child sternly.

She leveled a chillingly precocious look at him.

"What is your name, girl?" Qui-Gon asked more gently.

The girl hesitated. "Sabe," she lisped softly.


	2. Through a mirror darkly

**Chapter One : ** Through a Mirror Darkly

_Theed, Naboo_

_32 BBY_

On any other day the streets of Theed would be gripped with the spirit of impromptu celebration.

It was the first fine day after the three-month rainy season, and the air was cool, sweet, and clear. Every leaf, every stone, every face in the city was sharply delineated by bridal white sunshine. The planet of Naboo was blooming, with starflowers and blood tulips uncurling in every free patch of grass.

On any other day the people of Theed would be crowding the avenues and promenades, their children filling the air with high laughter. All would have silently thanked the Force for the blessing of being born on such a planet.

But on this day the sun was mocking. It beat down on their bent heads. The flowers were crushed by the tread of metallic feet, the air polluted with thick belches of exhaust from tanks. The children of Theed were silent as they, like their parents, were led in chains by throngs of battle droids.

War had come to paradise.

Meters below, a presence moved in the shadows.

There were few who knew of the complex network of tunnels below Theed, and fewer still who could navigate them. She knew them, as she knew her own hands and her own mind. They hid her secrets as well as she hid theirs, and opened themselves to those of her senses far more keen than sight. She used no light; she needed none. Her steps were sure as she followed the twists, turns and dips in the path without even feeling for the walls.

On any other day she might have lingered. But today it was not solitude she sought.

The dim vibrations she heard through the stone walls of the passages quickened her steps. Her heart beat fast beneath her velvet cowl. At length she came to a dead end and reached her hand to press the panel she knew was embedded in the stones. The stones groaned and rumbled as they slid aside, spilling a shock of brightness over her. Blinking, the royal handmaiden Sabe stepped into the light.

She was fifteen years old, slight, slim, and all but completely obscured by a flame colored robe with its hood pulled low over her face. But at times when she moved, a wisp or two of tawny hair escaped the hood, and the light caught her piercing brown eyes or revealed her delicate features.

She had entered the Throne room of Theed through a passage that opened in the base of the statue of Cestus on his horse. The high, pillared ceiling echoed the handmaiden's steps as she crossed the marble floor. Before her, the round seat of the throne and the council chairs circling it were empty, the holograph quiet. The room was abandoned except for a slim figure across from her, watching the activity out of the window with a bowed head.

The handmaiden sank to her knees. "My Queen."

Queen Amidala turned. She was resplendent in red and gold, with her brown hair coiled around her elaborate headdress. Her face was a doll-like mask of white. The only color in it was her dark eyes and the crimson scar of remembrance that split her lower lip. But though her costume succeeded in making her imposing, none of it hid her extreme youth.

"My Queen, time is short," Sabe said.

"Yes," the Queen said, her voice unnaturally deepened and accented. "The droids are preparing to storm the palace."

"Our plan must now be put in motion," the handmaiden said.

The tiniest of sighs escaped the Queen's lips. "I follow your lead."

Sabe stood and made her way back to the open passage, the Queen close behind. When the stones slid shut again, Sabe felt for the Queen's hand. Still, she heard Amidala's sharp intake of breath as the darkness enveloped them. The Queen's hold on her hand was almost painful as the sounds of marching droids and rolling tanks filtered through meters of rock to where they scurried through the tunnels like mice.

Soon enough they reached the Queen's private quarters. Within, four girls dressed identically to Sabe stood from the curved lounge where they had been sitting stiffly. Their movements were almost choreographed as they bowed. Rabe, Sache, Yane, Eirtae.

Sabe made five. Five girls to surround her majesty at all times. To comfort her, advise her, aid in all her daily affairs, but most of all to shield her in just such situations as this.

Sabe avoided the others' eyes as she moved to the Queen's dressing room. As the Queen removed her headdress and gown, Sabe pulled her own cloak over her head and handed it to her.

From the racks of gowns Sabe selected the dress the Queen had specified. It was black, a color of protest and mourning, but with the stylized star flowers that were the symbol of Naboo royalty defiantly embroidered on the hem. It was more than appropriate, though not Amidala's usual style. Sabe reflected that it particularly suited her. It matched the shadows she preferred.

She slipped on the gold watered silk under robe, cinching it tight at her waist and slipping a dagger and blaster into the band. It would be nearly impossible to get to them quickly, but they comforted her all the same. Over the under robe went a shift of black silk lace. Lastly, Rabe and Yane helped her into the heavy velvet gown. Sabe tied back her auburn hair carefully, knotting it tightly at the nape of her neck. Usually she darkened it with dye or covered it with a wig, but there was no time now. Rabe pulled up the hood with its heavy gold ear coverings and adjusted them around her face. Sabe frowned. The towering feather headdress made her feel as if her head would bend backwards, and the hood dispensed with her peripheral vision. But it was just the costume for a decoy. She was hidden as surely as if she was back in the tunnels, and suddenly she felt like a warrior, well armed for a coming battle. Her posture straightened.

"Come," the Queen said. She had transformed while Sabe had been dressing. Her makeup was gone, and in the simple flame-colored handmaiden's gown she appeared as the fresh-faced girl Sabe had come to know as Padme.

Drawing Sabe to the vanity, Padme used powder to whiten her face. She painted the scar of remembrance on Sabe's lips. Then she put the makeup aside and stood side by side with Sabe as they looked in the mirror together.

"The threat is on you, now, handmaiden," Padme said softly.

Sounds from outside reached them; blaster fire, and the shattering of transparisteel. Sabe turned toward the passage. "They are drawing near. You must go now. Straight, to the left, and then a quarter mile to the cliffs. I will alert Captain Panaka to meet you there."

"The Captain has been apprehended," Rabe said.

Sabe whirled around, her gown rustling. "Are you sure?" she demanded.

Rabe nodded.

Sabe clasped her restless hands, thinking. "Then you must go with her. And you, Yane. There will be guards there who can take you to the lake country."

Padme shook her head. "Forget it, Sabe. My council is captured and my people are in chains. I cannot flee."

"But my Queen—" Sabe protested.

Cloak or not, Padme was still the Queen. "My decision is made, handmaiden," she said, automatically assuming the court accent.

Sabe shook off the start it always gave her. Padme Naberrie was duality; Amidala and herself. She could switch on one or the other as easily as most people turned on a light. Sabe took a breath and tried again. "My Queen…"

"A ruler is a servant of the people," Padme said, repeating what she'd insisted on many times before. "Her life has no special value in itself."

"You are a symbol," Sabe said. "How will they keep up hope if they see you in chains?"

"We will keep up the protocol," Padme replied. "Besides, no symbol ever turned back an invasion."

"With all due respect, my Queen, this invasion cannot be turned back," Sabe said in a low voice.

Padme's eyebrows drew together, her countenance stormy. The other four handmaidens exchanged uncomfortable looks, except for Eirtae, who looked ready to explode. Padme opened her mouth to rebuke Sabe, but a pounding at the door drowned out her words.

It was too late now. There was no longer time to hustle the Queen away. Sabe took a shaky breath. All they could trust in now was her ability to deceive.

Shifting easily into the role of a handmaiden, Padme went to answer the door. It burst open, and Padme was thrown to the floor by the force of the droids flooding into the room. Sabe stifled a cry and resisted the urge to cover the Queen's body with her own. To her relief, the droids ignored Padme entirely, surrounding her and the other handmaidens instead. Within a few moments, a creature appeared behind them, a Neimoidian with dull grey skin and a slack, expressionless face. His bulging, rose-colored eyes were alight with what Sabe could only assume was pleasure. He swept into the room, rich blue robes fluttering around him.

"Your highness," he simpered. "What a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

Sabe drew herself up to her full height. "You will pardon me if I do not share the sentiment, Viceroy Gunray," she said in perfect imitation of Amidala's court accent.

The Viceroy's eyes glittered. "If only your disdain had not made this course of action necessary." He turned to the droids flanking him. "Secure her!"

The droids did not shackler her, a small blessing. A droid just behind her dug the point of his blaster into the small of her back, and the circle tightened around them, herding them outside like a herd of helpless banthas. Sabe spotted Captain Panaka waiting in the corridor, as well as Governor Bibble. She wondered if the stone-faced men felt as dizzy as she did at Theed's turmoil.

Without further ado, the party descended down the main staircase.

"How will you explain this invasion to the senate?" Governor Bibble's voice was steady, but Sabe noticed the temper burning in his eyes. His fiery nature was the stuff of local legend.

"The Queen and I will sign a treaty that will legitimize our occupation here. I have assurances it will be ratified by the Senate," the Viceroy replied smugly.

Sabe bit her lip, tasting blood. "I will _not_ cooperate."

"Now, now, your Majesty. In time the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view. Commander," The Viceroy turned to one of the droids, his voice dropping ominously. "Process them."

"Yes sir," the droid replied in metallic monotone. "Captain, take them to camp four."

Sabe was shoved forward. She glanced over her shoulder. Padme forced a reassuring smile beneath her hood.

Sabe gasped as they exited the castle and descended the stairs to Theed Palace's plaza. Tanks and droids were everywhere, leading guards and civilians alike in chains, to the camps. She caught a glimpse of the Palace's famous gardens around a corner, trampled. Here and there she even saw a body or two. By their uniforms she recognized them as guards. Probably they were guards who could not bear the capture of their Monarch. She tasted bile as they passed near to one of the twisted, smoking corpses.

They turned from the plaza onto a side street. She was beginning to despair. What did it matter whether Padme had a decoy or not if they were both to be tortured in camps?

Suddenly a pulse of energy stopped her in her tracks. The others looked at her curiously and the droid just behind her gave her a sharp jab in the spine with his weapon. But the droid never had the time to give any order, for at that moment, two figures in dark brown dropped from the walkway above.

There were two of them, moving almost faster than the eye could follow. They used shimmering blades made of light, one green and the other blue. One leapt into the air, taking down a droid with each foot, slicing two more with his glowing weapon as soon as his feet touched the ground. He twirled his lightsaber back into readiness, stopping just in front of Sabe. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, his hair short and spiky in the manner of a Jedi apprentice. His Master, a strikingly tall man with flowing, grey-streaked hair, finished three droids nearby, tucking his saber away and force-pushing two others against a rock wall. Oddly enough, a Gungun was also with them. The creature was practically dancing with terror.

The padawan stared at her, a look of curiosity flickering behind his stern mask.

She stared back in horror. _It can't be. It just can't be…_

Before she could collect her thoughts, the older of the two Jedi was beside her. "We must leave the streets, your highness."

Sabe didn't move until she felt Governor Bibble's hand on her back, guiding her into an alcove to the right.

"We are the ambassadors for the supreme chancellor," said the man she knew to be Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Sabe was barely listening.Ghost-like fragments of memories were coming to her, one on top of another. Desperately, she hoped that the ceremonial makeup sufficiently obscured her features. But she knew nothing could conceal her tumult from the Jedi.

At least Governor Bibble was still paying attention. "Your negotiations seem to have failed, Ambassador," he observed wryly.

"The negotiations never took place," Qui-Gon Jinn replied without pause. "It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic."

Panaka moved from behind the still-dazed Sabe. "They've knocked out all our communications."

"Do you have transport?"

Panaka nodded and indicated the way to Amidala's sleek Nubian. "This way. To the main hangar."

Moving quickly, they crossed the street again and slipped inside the level one-story adjoining the palace. Sabe found it was difficult to keep up with the others in her heavy skirts. But Panaka and the handmaidens, including Padme, hung back to be sure she was not left behind.

They stopped, concealed from the Federation guards inside, and surveyed the scene. On the left side of the hangar, a group of pilots was surrounded by droids opposite their own fighters. The sleek chromium Royal Starship itself was guarded by a group of perhaps ten droids in formation, weapons at the ready. Sabe felt dismayed as she wondered how they could possibly get past so many without loss. She risked a cautious glance over her shoulder at Padme.

Captain Panaka seemed to share her assessment. "There are too many of them."

"That won't be a problem," Qui-Gon replied with the perfect confidence Sabe remembered so well. For only the second time he met her eyes, but he showed no sign of recognition. "Your highness, under the circumstances I suggest you come to Coruscant with us."

She had to force out the words, but she knew Padme's mind. "Thank you, Ambassador. But my place is with my people."

"They will kill you if you stay." Qui-Gon said without hesitation. Sabe blinked.

"They wouldn't dare!" Governor Bibble exclaimed.

"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal," Panaka agreed. "They can't afford to kill her."

Qui-Gon shook his head. "There is something else behind this, your Highness. There's no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."

Sabe's eyes slid to the floor. If Qui-Gon felt that something was amiss, she knew enough to trust his instincts. And if she were killed, where would that leave the real Queen? As soon as they removed her hood and saw her red hair it would be evident that she was a decoy. Or the Federation might just execute them all, indiscriminately.

"Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us," Governor Bibble said after a moment. He looked up at Sabe. "Senator Palpatine will need your help."

"Getting past the blockade is impossible, your highness," Captain Panaka interjected. Unlike Bibble, he was aware of the ruse she was playing out. He looked at Sabe intently. "Any attempt to escape will be dangerous."

Sabe favored him with a tiny nod.

"Your highness," Bibble said. "I will stay here and do what I can. They will have to retain the Council of Governors in order to maintain control. But you must leave."

Sabe set her jaw and stared again at the floor. "Either choice presents great danger," she locked eyes with Padme. "To us all."

Padme raised her head a little so Sabe could see her eyes glowing determinedly in the shadows of the hood. "We are brave, your highness," she murmured.

Sabe knew that Qui-Gon had not missed the exchange, but he gave no sign. "If we are to leave, your Highness, it must be now."

Sabe raised her chin. "Then I will plead our case to the Senate. Be careful, Governor."

She followed the Jedi out into the hangar. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Padme put a hand on Sache and Yane's arms and shake her head slightly at them. Sabe realized with a jolt that they had to be left behind. Governor Bibble stood with them behind the door. Sabe's heart ached as she wondered whether she would see any of them again.

"We need to free those pilots," Panaka muttered to Qui-Gon in front of her.

"I'll deal with that," said a crisply accented voice. She watched Obi-Wan Kenobi as he stopped Panaka with a hand and advanced toward the group of pilots and the guards, drawing his light saber.

But she had no chance to see what happened next, for a moment later they were face to face with another group of droids. "Halt!" one of them commanded.

"I'm Ambassador for the Supreme Chancellor," Qui-Gon said without a falter. "I'm taking these people to Coruscant."

Sometimes, Jedi mind tricks even confused droids momentarily. "Where…are you taking them?"

"To Coruscant," Sabe could detect a hint of humor in his voice.

"Coruscant…uh…that doesn't compute…wait…" the droid pointed a metal finger right in Qui-Gon's face. "You're under arrest!"

In seconds the droid lay in a smoking pile of debris at Qui-Gon's feet, and within a minute Captain Panaka was shoving Sabe, Padme, Rabe, and Eirtae up the ramp of the Nubian. Sabe would have liked to remain and see what was happening outside, but Panaka's hand on her back was firm. "Get to the throne room!" He shouted. "And fasten yourselves in!"

Together, they all hurried down the corridor into the room Amidala used as a receiving chamber during her voyages to Coruscant. It was long, white, and windowless with the throne in the center of the room and low benches to either side. "To the throne, Sabe," Padme said, once she was assured they were alone. "There is a safety harness under the cushion!" She and Rabe and Eirtae buckled themselves in at the benches.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Eirtae said as they all listened to the sounds of blaster fire and the humming of light sabers from outside. The older girl had trained as a pilot before becoming a handmaiden, and had made it her business to know everything there was to know about the Royal Starship. "How are we going to get past the blockade?"

The obvious answer was that they couldn't. The Nubian vessel was unarmed, with merely adequate speed from a civilian grade hyper drive. But none of the blockade ships had Jedi aboard. "Master Jinn will find a way if anyone can," Sabe murmured.

The eyes of her three companions were suddenly fixed on her. "Master Jinn?" Rabe asked. "Sabe, do you know him?"

Her reply was cut off by the sound of the entrance ramp closing and the engines firing beneath them. "We're taking off!" Rabe exclaimed. They all took a collective deep breath.

Eirtae translated the sounds they could hear only dimly through the walls of the control room. "We're in atmosphere," she explained as they began to feel fine vibrations all around them. Soon their flight became smooth again. Eirtae's face was anxious. "It won't be long now."

A few moments later a tremendous explosion rocked the ship. Sabe's safety harness dug into her abdomen as she was thrown about like a rag doll. "What was that?" Rabe cried.

"The Federation, of course," Eirtae said grimly. "We've reached the Blockade."

"Why haven't we gone to light speed?" Padme asked, looking more irritated than frightened.

Eirtae listened carefully as more explosions jolted the room. They could all hear the sounds of distant alarms from the direction of the cockpit. What Eirtae heard from the engines seemed to displease her greatly. "Our shields are down," she said tensely. "And the hyper-drive sounds off."

Sabe suddenly disliked the blonde handmaiden even more. Clutching the armrests of the throne until her fingers turned white, she decided it was better to not know that they were sitting ducks if they were to be vaporized anyway.

Suddenly there was a great bump and a buzzing sound and the alarms from the frontward part of the ship silenced. Rabe gave a gasp, no doubt thinking that this was their last minute alive.

But after a tense moment, Eirtae's face lit up. "That sound—the astro-mechs bypassed the main power drive!"

"And!" Sabe snapped, losing patience with Eirtae's technical jargon.

"Our shields are back up!" Eirtae cried, adding, "Thank the Force for astro droids!"

Sabe couldn't agree more when they finally entered lightspeed a moment later.


	3. Stranded

**Chapter Two:** Stranded

_Space, Mid-Rim_

_14:34 CT_

It was an hour or more before the four girls finally heard the turbo lift descending from the cockpit and footsteps in the hallway. The door of the throne room slid open, admitting Captain Panaka, the two Jedi, and a low-built astro droid covered from top to bottom in soot.

The Jedi stopped at a respectful distance and bowed deeply. "Your highness, allow me to introduce myself formally," Qui Gon said. "I am Qui Gon Jinn, and this is my padawan learner, Obi Wan Kenobi."

Sabe could have smirked at the irony, but she could reveal nothing. Fighting to keep her face impassive beneath the heavy makeup, she inclined her head as regally as she could. "You are well and most fortunately met, Master Jedi. I must express my deepest thanks for your assistance."

"As you have undoubtedly gathered," Panaka said, stepping forward, "We have been engaged in combat with the Federation's ships. We sustained damage to the shields and the hyper-drive, and would certainly have been destroyed if not for this little astromech. An extremely well put-together little droid, your Highness. Without a doubt it saved the ship as well as our lives."

Sabe looked at the droid curiously. It chirped like a bird. _ A tumultuous day, _she thought, _when one moment we are threatened and harassed by droids, and the next, rescued by them. _

"It is to be commended," she said aloud. "What is its number?"

Captain Panaka bent and peered at the serial number just beneath the droid's dome cover. "R2-D2, your Highness."

Sabe smiled as the droid cooed, humanlike. "Thank you, R2-D2."

Then something occurred to her. "Padme."

Padme stepped from behind her where she had been standing quietly observing.

"Clean this droid up as best you can. It deserves our gratitude," Sabe said. She and Padme exchanged a secret smile as Padme walked to stand next to the droid.

"Continue, Captain," Sabe encouraged, dragging her eyes away from Padme to her advisors.

Captain Panaka nodded to Qui Gon, and the Master shifted on his feet. "Your highness, with your permission we are heading for a remote planet called Tattooine. It is a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation. There we will be able to make needed repairs, then travel on to Coruscant."

Sabe glanced at Padme. She was looking at her shoes beneath her hood, biting her lip.

"I do not agree with the Jedi on this," Panaka cut in. There were thunderclouds on his face as he regarded the Jedi.

"You must trust my judgment, your Highness," Qui Gon said nonchalantly.

Behind him, Padme raised her head and gave a little nod. Obi Wan caught the movement and looked at her sharply. Padme quailed before his look, bowed, and left the room with R2-D2 in tow.

"Very well," Sabe said imperiously, trying to draw Obi Wan's attention back to herself. "And how long do you expect before we reach this Tatooine?"

It was Obi Wan who replied this time. "About two hours, give or take," he said. It was apparent that something about her gave him pause. He had been studying her intently since the two Jedi had entered the receiving chamber.

Sabe did not allow her eyes to drop or her hands to fidget under his regard. Whether or not they eventually recognized her, she must keep up the ruse as long as possible. "Well, then, my handmaidens and I will retire. I expect you will apprise me as soon as we near Tatooine."

She rose, and Rabe and Eirtae came to stand beside her. "We must get to Coruscant as quickly as possible. The future of Naboo lies with you, Master Jedi."

The Jedi bowed again, Qui Gon with his eyes lowered respectfully. But Obi Wan's eyes never left her. A little flutter of trepidation touched Sabe, but she turned away before any evidence of it could give her away.

Sabe couldn't help walking a little more quickly as the throne room door shut behind them. Rabe and Eirtae were practically jogging to keep up with her as she crossed the two holds and moved quickly down the corridor leading to the Queen's private quarters. Once they were safely inside, Sabe leaned against the closed door with her eyes closed.

"Do you think they suspected?" Eirtae asked, helping Sabe to remove the heavy headdress. "That young one looked at you for an awfully long time."

"I don't know," Sabe ran nervous fingers through her hair, unknotting it and allowing it to fall down her back. "The Jedi are keen in their senses. They can sense feelings, intentions, sometimes even thoughts if they are fervent enough."

Sabe sank onto the bed, already exhausted from the cat-and-mouse game they seemed to be playing at. Rabe came and sat beside her. "You know them," she said. "Don't you? You knew the eldest one's name."

Sabe faltered. But she wasn't ready to answer the questions she would bring by answering honestly. "Only by reputation," she lied. "I recognized their fighting style from Combat class. Our teacher often discussed the styles of individual Jedi at length.

To Sabe's relief, the other girls seemed to accept her explanation without question. "I wouldn't know a parry from a thrust," Eirtae shrugged. "I suppose we all have our specialities."

Sabe blinked, wondering if it was true. Certainly Captain Panaka had made every effort to diversify their team. Eirtae, for instance, had a sharp technical mind and a knack for making sense of schematics that Sabe could not make heads or tails of. In addition, she had been a prize-winning marksman in her class at the academy. Rabe's healing skills were her best qualifier, though she had cut short her schooling for her duty to the crown. She was also a more than adequate fighter, and she was skilled at remembering the finer points of etiquette and procedure in the political arena. Yane and Sache were still fairly new, and their characters and abilities were not yet clear, but they were bright and eager and Sabe had no doubt they both had unique skills to offer.

But Sabe's biggest contribution was her likeness to Padme. Though she was an agile fighter, her skills with a blaster were only passable. She had no patience for politics and no head for protocol. Even her likeness to Padme was not perfect. Every time she looked in the mirror the differences seemed exaggerated to her. She bridged the gap with an illusion, focusing her mind on Padme's face, Padme's voice, and Padme's character. It was one of the few ways she was still able to use her abilities, and Rabe and Eirtae often remarked how oddly she seemed transformed when she was in disguise.

They were supposed to be a well-oiled machine, but Sabe felt she could not help keeping apart. Padme was the bright star they all orbited around, and when one or another got too close, there was inevitable tension with the others. Eirtae in particular had seemed to resent Sabe since the moment Captain Panaka selected her to be Padme's decoy. Sabe predicted a lot of awkward silence in the Queen's quarters if they were stuck on this ship for very long.

"How…how was I?" Sabe asked hesitantly.

Rabe and Eirtae looked up in surprise. "You did admirably well considering the scrutiny of those two Jedi," Rabe said. "And the fact that you look identical to Padme under all that makeup doesn't hurt either."

Sabe drifted to the mirror, loosening her gown. "You know, I've never really seen the resemblance."

"Well, you certainly _act _nothing alike," Eirtae muttered, lying across her bed with her datapad in front of her.

Rabe gave her a cold look. She smiled indulgently at Sabe. "When you are in costume, the resemblance is remarkable."

Sabe smoothed her skirt. "The padawan could see our interaction. He's watching us closely now."

"You'll have more prep time for tomorrow," Rabe comforted.

No such luck. As soon as they felt the bump of the ship settling onto the ground two hours later, Padme rushed into the room, and began hurrying between the closet and her bed, throwing clothing across it and undressing. "Qui Gon and the Gungun are leaving," Padme explained when she finally noticed them staring.

"Gungun?" Rabe said with a curl of her lip. Rabe's family was from the swampy area where most of the Gunguns lived. Sabe supposed even she was not without her prejudices.

"Yes," Padme replied shortly, pulling a rough gray tunic over her head and securing it around her waist. "He arrived with the Jedi. They are going to the nearby settlement, Mos Espa, to look for parts."

Sabe was beginning to see where this was going. "Yes," she said. "And what are _you _doing?"

Padme avoided her eyes as she pulled on a rugged pair of boots. "I'm going with them."

Sabe jumped from her seat on the bed. "Have you lost your mind?" she cried.

Padme gave her a level look. "Have you forgotten who you are working for?"

Sabe stiffened, but did not back down. "Our job is to protect you, My Lady, and by extension, protect Naboo. How can we do that if you are wandering a planet controlled by the Hutts?"

Padme's authoritarian air softened. "No harm will come to me. In spite of Master Jinn's cavalier air," She glowered, but continued. "…He is strong in the Force."

Sabe cast down her eyes. "As to that…" she gave Rabe and Eirtae a questioning look. "I do need to speak with you privately, My Lady."

Padme raised an eyebrow, but nodded to Rabe and Eirtae, who left the room. She turned back to Sabe. "What's on your mind?"

Sabe put her hand to her chin and turned away, pacing the room with a swish of the voluminous gown she wore. "It's about the Jedi, my lady. I do know them."

A pause. "How?"

Sabe sighed. "In Coruscant, at the temple. It was Qui Gon Jinn who brought me there."

Padme nodded. "Do you think they have recognized you?"

"I do not believe so, though Obi Wan appears to be already curious. You will find that he has a persistent nature, my lady. He may well figure out the ruse before you return."

Padme crossed her arms over her chest, considering. "Do you trust them?"

Echoes of old hurt made a tremor pass over Sabe's face. But it had never been a question of distrust. "Completely, my Lady,"

"Well," Padme said resignedly. "The more people who know a secret, the less likely it is to remain one. I know Jedi have the reputation of being discrete, but keep up protocol for now. If they figure it out…we'll just have to deal with it."

Sabe nodded, feeling a bit more at ease. Padme finished dressing and slung a bag over her shoulder.

"Padme," Sabe said, letting the formality go for the moment. "Please don't go. We know nothing of this planet. If you were caught --"

Padme's face was kind but determined as she placed her hands on Sabe's shoulders. "I know how you feel about this Sabe, and I appreciate your vigil. But really, I will be fine."

She walked toward the door. Sabe put a hand to her brow, massaging the spot where she felt a headache coming. "Padme," she called.

Padme stuck her head back in the door.

"The Force be with you," Sabe muttered.

A little furrow appeared between Padme's brows, but she forced a smile. "And with you, Sabe."

* * *

_A training room._

_The clash of sword meeting sword._

_The fighters were far from evenly matched. The boy, a lanky teen with ginger-colored hair, moved with a skill beyond his years. In fact, there were signs that he restrained himself from engaging at his full abilities. His opponent, however, was a small tawny haired girl half his height. Her movements may have been less awkward than another child her age, but it was evident that she had rarely held a weapon before this spar._

_"Feel the Force flowing through you," the teen instructed after once again lightly touching her side with his weapon, a composite practice staff. With a flick of his wrist he swung his staff back into readiness._

_The girl expelled an irritated breath and adjusted back into the defensive stance he'd taught her earlier. She rocked on her feet, glaring him down, and then rushed him. The teen blocked her staff easily. She attempted to dart behind him and then spun on her toes, but he was already there, pushing her back seemingly without effort._

_"You are wise to use my height against me," he commented as they continued to spar. "But always attempt to draw your opponent into striking the first blow."_

_The girl was barely listening. Her sword swings became choppy as she tried to advance on him and make him step back. But his feet remained rooted to the spot as if they had sprouted from the practice pad, and soon enough she had to skip backwards to avoid his sword. _

_Very slowly he began advancing. He was careful not to hurt her, but he was hard on her all the same. As she attempted to ward off his barrage of blows, her cheeks flushed and beads of sweat popped out on her forehead. Her swings became erratic, desperate. All at once her foot caught and she sprawled backwards, hitting the bare permacrete floor beyond the practice pad with a thump._

_"Balance is as important in fighting as it is in life, youngling," said the boy._

_The girl did not move. She lay spread-eagled, the practice staff still lightly grasped in her hand. _

_The teen's brows drew together. "Sabe?"_

_No response. _

_Concern mounted on his face and he knelt beside her. "Sabe?" The concern turned to panic. His master had trusted him to help her with fighting basics. If she was hurt –_

_Suddenly the girl's lips curved upward, and the hand that held the sword came up, tapping him on the neck with it. One brown eye opened. "Got you," she lisped softly._

_His jaw dropped open. His expression was so comical that she did something no one in the temple had ever heard her do before – she giggled. _

_He sat back on his heels, amazed. "You sneaky little…"_

_Her giggling only increased._

_"Very amusing, youngling," He said wryly. "Unfortunately that ploy will not work if your opponent does not care whether or not you have cracked your skull upon the floor."_

_The giggles turned to high-pitched guffaws. "Sour…grapes," she gasped._

_His eyes widened even further. But instead of growing angry, a grin slowly spread across his face. "Very well then," he said slyly. "I suppose I shall have to resort to unconventional methods."_

_With that he began tickling her mercilessly._

_"No!" she shrieked. "No – DON'T! Uncle!"_

_"Disrespect your elders, will you?" His onslaught continued. _

_"Cut it out, Obi Wan! Uncle!"_

_

* * *

_

Sabe woke with a start. For a moment she could not remember where she was. She was hot and stiff, and her face was pressed against something. She raised her head and looked down at the book she'd dozed off on.

_Economic Systems of the Middle Rim, by Svoi Lac'ti._

Sabe grimaced and replaced it in the shelf she'd pulled it from earlier out of sheer boredom. She straightened and looked around her.

Rabe was sewing in the corner, mending a tear she must have acquired during the flight from Theed. Eirtae was still spread over her bed, punching at her data pad with a frown of deep concentration on her face.

Sabe scrubbed at her eyes with her hands. "How long was I out?"

"An hour or two. You haven't missed much," Eirtae mumbled.

Sabe glanced in the mirror. Her hair was tangled, and her makeup was smeared. "Whoosh."

Rabe laughed. "Don't worry. We'll set you right before dinner."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. They all looked at one another in panic, and Sabe quickly hid in the large wardrobe. She heard Rabe answer the door, and then the soft-spoken, accented voice she'd dreamt of a few moments earlier.

"Pardon me, but we have received what appears to be a message from Naboo."

Sabe couldn't believe it had only been a day since she'd last seen Sio Bibble. The bearded man looked on the holograph as if decades of suffering had marked his face.

"The death toll is catastrophic. We must give into them. You _must _contact me!"

The message flickered out. The air was heavy with everyone's anxiety. Even Captain Panaka's. Even Obi Wan's. Sabe gave up restraining her fidgeting hands, twisting the black velvet of her skirt between them.

Obi Wan stood from the bench where he'd been watching. "It's a trick," he said firmly. "Send no reply. Send no messages of any kind." He strode from the room without a backward glance.

"Where is he going?" Eirtae said in obvious outrage. "Not so much as a 'by your leave?'"

"To contact his master, probably," Sabe said. "He is as uncertain as we are."

"In any event," Captain Panaka said from behind her. "His advice is sound. Governor Bibble was probably forced to make that message at the point of a blaster."

"But could it be true?" Rabe said. "Sache and Yane?" Her voice trembled. "My parents?"

"There is no way of knowing," Panaka sighed.

"We have to remained focused for Padme's sake," Sabe urged.

"That's easy for you to say," Eirtae snapped. "You have no one waiting back on Naboo to worry about."

"Eirtae!" Rabe said

Sabe was surprised how much the comment stung. Her throat tight, she stood. "We'd better go and contact Padme."

* * *

Padme appeared dusty and tired on their comvid, dark circles under her eyes. Apparently, she and the others had nearly been caught in the sand storm that was now raging outside. "We have come through the storm unscathed with a family here in Mos Espa," she said.

"A family?" Eirtae enquired. They were all gathered around the small communications device, practically shoving one another to see.

"We encountered a young boy at the parts dealer's. When the storm was threatening, he was kind enough to offer us shelter at his home. He and his mother have made us feel very welcome," Padme said warmly. "How are things on the ship?"

"Tense," Sabe answered. "We have received word from Naboo."

"And?" Padme prompted.

"Padawan Kenobi said that it was a trick," Eirtae said hurriedly.

Padme was not deterred. "What was said?"

Rabe exchanged a frown with Sabe and Eirtae. "It was Governor Bibble. He described a state of chaos. Deaths."

The comvid was silent for so long that they though they had lost the signal.

"Padme?"

"We _have_ to find a way to leave this forsaken rock." Padme's voice was thin over the uplink, but the intensity of her voice was not lost. The comvid clicked off.

No one could think of anything to say. There was nothing they could do to help Padme, nothing of value aboard the ship that they could take to her to trade.

Suddenly a shout went up from outside, and they all turned at the sound of running feet proceeding down the corridor. They nearly tripped over one another, each trying to get to the doorway first. It was Sabe who reached it. She pushed the button to raise the door and stuck her head out.

A young crewman was rushing out of the crew's quarters on the left. "Hey!" Sabe shouted, conscious suddenly that she was not in disguise. "What's happening?"

The young man turned, his face distracted. Sabe noticed the blaster gripped in his hand. "We're under attack!"

Sabe ran back into the Queen's quarters, grabbing her vibro blade and blaster from within the discarded royal gown on her bed. Hastily she jerked the hood of her cloak around her face. "Wait here!" she commanded Rabe and Eirtae.

"Sabe, no!" Eirtae shouted, but she was too late. Sabe ran down the corridor toward the ship's hold, where the exit ramp lay open.


	4. Sand People

The air was lurid amber beyond the ship's ramp. A cacophony of howling wind whipped by, made visible by the trillions of particles floating on it. As soon as she cleared the shelter created by the ship's walls, the storm hit her full in the face. The force of it was unbelievable. It snatched the breath from her and caused her to lose her footing. Grit filled her mouth, choking her. Sabe yanked the sash from her waist and secured it tightly around her mouth and nose. 100 yards away she saw a blue flare. Drawing her blaster and tucking her blade in her waistband, she sprinted toward it. Her calves ached as her feet sunk in sand.

It was Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and he was fighting a creature straight out of her nightmares. It was impossible to decide whether to call it human or not, because it was bound from head to foot in tattered rags that nearly matched the dust blowing around it, with only eye protectors and a respirator poking through on its face. It wielded a vicious four-bladed club that it swung with deadly earnest. And it wasn't alone. Dimly through the sand she saw Captain Panaka and three crewmembers fighting similar creatures. Ahead of them was a dune, and down the face of it rode four more warriors. Sabe could hear the distant sound of rifle fire from the top of the dune.

Obi-Wan and Captain Panaka appeared to be holding their own. But the crewmembers looked overwhelmed. Sabe aimed carefully as soon as the crewmen ducked a club swing again. She got a clear shot and one of the creatures threw his club in the air as he sprawled on his back. She fired again and missed, cursing the distance, the storm, and her own unimpressive skills with a blaster.

She spotted a large rock embedded in the sand near to where the crewmen were. They seemed to be doing better against two of the raiders, but the gunner was bedeviling them with precise shots. Eyeing the top of the dune where the rifle shots seemed to be coming from, Sabe made a break for it, attempting to remain low to the ground and throwing her arm across her face to shield her eyes. She skidded into the cover of the rock as a rifle shot whizzed over her head, striking the side of the ship with a ping. Steadying her blaster across her forearm, she squinted against the sand. At the very top of the dune she could just make out a dark shape. The gunner was in her sites. She fired, but it was impossible to tell whether she'd hit him or not. Still, the gunshots stopped. She turned her attention back to the creatures the crewman fought, finally hitting one in the arm.

Suddenly a body skidded down into the sand beside her, landing next to her with a thud. Sabe started, swinging her blaster around. Eirtae's belligerent blue eyes glowered at her above a makeshift kerchief mask. She lowered her blaster.

"What are they?" Eirtae shouted above the din.

"I don't know!" Sabe shouted back.

Eirtae raised her blaster and bent to aim down its barrel. Where Sabe's aiming had been haphazard, Eirtae's shots were straight and true. The raiders staggered back from the men, one shot in the mid-thigh, the other smoking from a wound in its upper arm.

Sabe half-laughed, impressed. "Nice shooting."

Eirtae sent her a withering glare and fired more shots at the riders coming down the dune. "Did you have a plan or did you just figure on winging it?"

Sabe winced. "The plan was to shoot until there weren't any more," she admitted, and concentrated her fire on the riders coming down the dune.

But the riders had come to the bottom of the dune and were picking up speed on more level ground. They had spotted Eirtae and Sabe behind the rock and were getting uncomfortably close now – close enough to ride right over them. Sabe and Eirtae fired almost continuously, but the riders' animals seemed to dance right over the beams. They were only twenty feet away now. The raider in front gave an unearthly howl, raising his club high. Sabe and Eirtae shrank back.

Suddenly a cloaked figure somersaulted over them, landing in front of the rock. Neither had noticed Obi-Wan coming up from behind. As the rider let his club fall, he caught it with the blade of his lightsaber, shattering it to splinters. Swinging back, he caught the rider in his upper arm, and the creature fell from his animal with a cry. The other three raiders turned their mounts to avoid him. The fallen rider lunged at Obi-Wan again with a short-bladed knife. Obi-Wan ducked, and then cut its legs from under it. The creature sprawled and howled on its back in the dirt.

"Get back to the ship!" Obi-Wan shouted over his shoulder.

Eirtae was only too happy to oblige, but Sabe scrambled over the top of the rock, seeing the other riders swinging around again. She aimed at them with her back to Obi-Wan's. He turned his head, giving her a thunderous look. "We are doing our duty as you are doing yours," She shouted, unconcerned.

They dove in opposite directions as the riders finally reached them and attempted to trample them. Sabe rolled onto her shoulder, shooting. She managed to catch one of the riders in his posterior shoulder, and Eirtae shot the same one in the side. Obi Wan landed on the flank of a second rider's mount with a catlike leap and threw off the rider. Obi Wan turned the bucking animal's head forcibly, his lightsaber blazing at the side. The two final riders exchanged looks hidden by their eye protectors, and then turned their animals and rode with haste back toward the dune. Obi Wan leaped down from the strange animal, and it took off after them with a fierce bleating.

Sabe's blaster was overheated, uncomfortably hot to the touch. She could imagine Eirtae's was probably overheated as well. They simply hadn't been designed for sustained fire fights. Fortunately, there were signs that the raiders were beginning to retreat. Captain Panaka and the crewman had overwhelmed the other raiders, and most of them ran, dragging a body or a wounded comrade with them.

Suddenly Sabe's instincts screamed a warning. She turned her head. Behind Obi-Wan, a warrior had come seemingly from nowhere, and was raising his lethal four-bladed club high. "Look out!" she screamed, yanking her blade from her waistband and hurling it.

The blade tumbled through the air in a perfect arc, hitting the creature between the eyes with a sickening crunch. Obi Wan ducked out of the way as its heavy club dropped where he had been standing a moment before. Black blood seeped through the rags around the creature's eyes, and the he fell bonelessly to the ground.

There had been several times in Sabe's life when her abilities publicly manifested themselves, usually during times of heightened stress or emotion. But never before had they had such simultaneously fortunate and unfortunate timing. As Obi-Wan raised his narrowed eyes to her, Sabe realized her mistake. She had reacted too quickly, had thrown too accurately, and had so obviously displayed her more unnatural reflexes that even Eirtae had noticed. Eirtae gasped from somewhere behind her.

But no one had time to form a question. At that moment an impact knocked Sabe to the ground, and burning heat shot along her left side. She cried out.

"Sabe!" Eirtae shouted. She was next to Sabe in a moment, yanking her to her feet. Obi-Wan darted in front of them, blocking a new barrage of rifle fire with quick movements of his weapon.

"Damn gunner, I thought I got him," Sabe panted, hanging weakly from Eirtae's shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut against tears as she held her side. Hot blood coated her hand.

"Shut up and run!" Eirtae screamed, dragging her toward the ship's ramp. The rifle fire stopped suddenly behind them.

Sabe rolled her head back weakly, looking over her shoulder. The two riders had reached the top of the dune, riding as if hell itself was behind them. A few stragglers were also climbing up behind them. The crewman punched the air with their fists, and Obi-Wan tucked his weapon back beneath his robe. Their attackers, whatever they were, were retreating.

* * *

"What in the Republic…" Rabe gasped as Eirtae pulled Sabe into their quarters, all but throwing her on the bed. The two helped Sabe pull her cloak over her head, and Rabe knelt in front of her, lifting the edge of the camisole she wore beneath.

Sabe screamed against her teeth.

Rabe retrieved an auto-injector from her medical kit and anesthetized the area around the wound. Then she prodded, poked, and frowned at the wound until Sabe thought she might strike the girl. "What made this?"

"A projectile of some kind," Eirtae said. "These foul creatures on animals…they were shooting and attacking with clubs."

Rabe's brow contracted as she pressed a clean cloth against the wound to staunch the flow of blood. "Well, it's not too deep a cut. Lucky it just grazed you."

It certainly didn't feel lucky. But the local anesthetic was beginning to take effect, and Sabe found she could breath again. "Hurry up and clean it off," She said urgently, trying not to show how much pain she was still in. "The others will be coming soon. Throw some bacta on it and bind it tight."

Rabe was an even-tempered girl, but when it came to healing she put her foot down. "Negative," she said sternly. "This needs to be cleaned and sewed up. You can't be running around the desert with something like this."

"Then you do it," Sabe said.

"I can't sew you up, Sabe!" Rabe protested. "I didn't even complete that class in school!"

With the girls' help, Sabe laid back on her bed. "Do you see any licensed healers aboard, Rabe?"

Rabe set her jaw. "I am _not _doing surgery in a bedroom."

"Fine," Sabe hissed. "But at least help me with the bacta and bandage. The padawan will be here any minute and will want to brief the Queen."

Rabe lifted the pad over the cut. The bleeding had slowed. She commenced cleaning the wound, and cut small pieces of bacta down to size, fitting them carefully. Then she began wrapping gauze tightly around Sabe's waist. Sabe couldn't help the whimpers she made every time the wound was shifted. Rabe shook her head, dropping the gauze.

"Hurry, Rabe." Sabe urged.

"Maybe you shouldn't…" Rabe began, but she trailed off.

"Shouldn't…?" Sabe prompted. "Shouldn't go? That isn't an option at this moment, is it?"

Eirtae leaned forward. "Maybe it's time some one else took over." Her eyes narrowed. "You had no business going out there. Now you're unfit to carry out your duties."

Sabe breathed deeply. She was beginning to get very tired of Eirtae's constant criticism. "Could Rabe mimic Padme's voice? And you – even if you could manage the voice, you are three inches taller. If you think these are discrepancies no one will notice, you're kidding yourself."

Eirtae pressed her mouth into a thin, angry line. Rabe sighed deeply and started over with the gauze. Finally, she tied it off as tightly as she could. "There. It's the best I can do."

Sabe found if she breathed very deeply, she could sit up without passing out. She looked at Rabe and Eirtae's closed faces, and suddenly felt guilty. "If the ship had been damaged, none of us would ever get off this planet," she said defensively.

"That's the padawan's job," Rabe said sharply.

Sabe blinked, unused to that tone from the most easy-going member of the group. Maybe she _had _been rash after all. "But—"

"No!" Eirtae said. "You aren't here because of your mediocre aim, or your ability to throw a blade, or your tendency to run out into battles without thinking. The only reason you are here is because you have Padme's face. Stop trying to play the heroine and do your damn job."

Sabe was horrified when her lip trembled. Nothing seemed to sting more than when someone claimed she had not done her duty.

"I _am _trying to do my job," she said softly.

Eirtae huffed and left the room.

"Don't go far," Sabe called after her. "I'll need you when the padawan comes to report."

Eirtae's snort was the only reply she got.

Sabe let her forehead drop into her hand, but even the small movement shifted the bandages around her waist, and she grimaced. She raised her head. "I'm going to need more anesthetic to get through this briefing, Rabe."

She wouldn't have believed that Rabe was capable of the dirty look she gave her if she hadn't seen it for herself.

* * *

As expected, Obi-Wan summoned them for a report within half an hour. He paced the floor in front of Sabe, still appearing a bit sandy and disheveled.

"We sustained an attack by a group of nomads known as the Tusken Raiders. They are known locally for their violent natures and will attack any vessel they perceive as a territorial threat," he said.

Sabe shifted miserably on the throne. Despite Rabe's best efforts, one just could not expect a wound to go away within a half hour. "So you believe they know nothing of our identity?"

"Yes, my lady," Obi-Wan replied. "As my master stated, the Federation has no presence here. It is highly unlikely that anyone suspects us."

"Do you believe these raiders will return?" Sabe asked.

"Hopefully not. There were many of them killed or wounded during their onslaught. Hopefully they have been sufficiently weakened to avoid us for a while." Obi Wan answered.

That was a lot of suppositions and wishes. Sabe glanced at Captain Panaka. He shrugged.

Obi Wan continued. "Still, I would advise that everyone should remain close to the ship. The raiders were in position of long range rifles, and it is possible that they may attempt to strike at us from afar."

"How did the ship and crew fare during the attack?" Sabe asked.

"We have suffered no losses or damage to the ship thanks to the quick action of your crew and your handmaidens."

Sabe exhaled. "Very good, Padawan Kenobi. Captain Panaka, what efforts have been made to secure the ship for the night?"

Captain Panaka unfolded his arms and straightened from his position leaning against the wall. "Guards will be posted outside the ship around the clock. I have also set up a rudimentary perimeter alarm that should alert us if anyone comes near."

Sabe nodded. "If there are injuries among your men, my handmaiden can attend to them."

Captain Panaka shook his head. "Just cuts and scrapes, your highness. I think the men have already seen to them."

"Very well," Sabe said, rising. "If you please, I'd like a briefing on security first thing in the morning."

"Of course, my Lady," Captain Panaka said. He and Obi-Wan bowed as she walked toward the door.

She had assumed neither man had anything more to say. But just as she passed Obi-Wan, he spoke, making her jump. "I wonder if I might inquire about your handmaiden? I noticed she was wounded in the fight."

Sabe froze. His tone was not casual. Somehow, despite the covering over her face, he knew that it was she who had been outside. "She is well," she said carefully. "It appears it was only a superficial injury." Even as she spoke her wound gave a particularly painful throb, and she had to school her features into the expressionless mask of the Queen.

"I hope you will relate to her my appreciation," Obi-Wan said quietly.

"We will tell her for you," Sabe said icily, and beat a hasty retreat from the receiving chamber.

"You've blown it," Eirtae hissed as they walked across the hold.

Sabe shushed her sharply as a crewman passed. They entered their quarters. Eirtae shut the door and turned on her heel.

"Obviously he recognized you. Well done," she said coldly.

"He knows it was me," Sabe argued. "But he doesn't know I am not the Queen."

"So you say," Eirtae retorted, jerking her hood from her head.

"All he knows is that the Queen is a risk taker," said Sabe, adding wryly, "And if that isn't like Padme, I don't know what is."

"Ladies, please!" Rabe said listlessly. "Can we all just get some rest now?"

"Whatever," Eirtae said. She tossed her cloak in the corner and lay down on her bed, turning her back to them.

Sabe sighed as she switched her gown for a cloak.

"Where are you going?" Rabe asked.

"To publish the details of the disguise in the Tatooine news, no doubt," Eirtae said snidely over her shoulder.

Sabe whirled around. "I'm going to the 'fresher! Is that acceptable, your grace?"

Eirtae pulled her blankets up to her ears sulkily, turning her face back to the wall. Rabe waved Sabe out with a frown.


	5. A Jedi's Gamble

Chapter Three: A Jedi's Gamble 

**A/N : Not much action in this chapter, but a little more background. Expect more updates soon, and thanks so much for the reviews. Keep 'em coming :-)  
**

Coruscant 

_42 BBY_

_Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was not given to many moments of self-doubt. But he could feel a rare one overtaking him as he stared down at his discovery with troubled grey eyes._

_The yellow bars of light from the shaded window gleamed over the objects unsympathetically. They were varied; a comlink, a short-bladed dagger, a cloak pin, a few Republican credits. He had found them all wrapped in a ragged cloak and stuffed beneath the improvised pallet in his apartment's common room. _

_There was a low swish from the other room as the door of the apartment opened. He closed his eyes briefly and distinguished the girl's presence. "Youngling," he called._

_She all but ran into the room, the energy there spiking with her effervescent aura. Her face was lit with a kind of wild joy, her cheeks rosy from exercise, and her brilliant hair loose and tangled around her face. Her intention seemed to be to run into his arms. It would have been an extremely rare display of affection for her. But she stopped dead when she noticed the pilfered items spread on the cloak in his lap._

_She showed no fear, no shame, not even surprise. The silence stretched on for one minute, two. She clasped her hands behind her back. "Will you take me back now?"_

_Qui-Gon looked at her closely. "Is that what you want?"_

_"No." She met his eyes unflinchingly._

_"Why have you stolen these things?"_

_The word seemed to catch her. Perhaps she had not thought of it as stealing at all. For the first time she showed signs of unease, studying the floor and shifting from foot to foot. "I have to give them to Vigo."_

_Vigo was not a name, but a title. Despite the best efforts of the Senate and the Jedi, the elusive Black Sun still held tight control of the Coruscanti underworld. Qui-Gon had heard rumors that they collected tribute from every drug dealer, smuggler, assassin, thief, and prostitute in the city, but he had never imagined they would bother with five-year-old pickpockets. "Why?"_

_"He'll cut my throat." The matter-of-fact words were all the more disturbing when framed with her childish voice. _

_"You aren't going back there," Qui-Gon said with conviction._

_"I'll stay here, then? Always?"_

_Qui-Gon sighed and folded the items within the cloak. The note of hope she'd allowed to creep into her words almost seemed to pain her. But honestly, he couldn't answer her question. Her midi-chlorian level was well over the Temple's requirements, but her age and lack of training made her an unlikely candidate. In addition, she'd shown many undesirable personality traits; a predilection to sudden violence, an inability to properly socialize with the other initiates, and now this. _

"_It is a dangerous thing to make promises about the future," he said. "Our paths are winding."_

_The girl hung her head._

"_But the Council will not abandon you to the streets," Qui-Gon leaned forward and hooked his fingers under her chin. "Nor will I."_

_The girl's eyes were no less penetrating than usual. _

_"Now return these items to their owners," Qui-Gon said._

_The girl took the bundle and retraced her steps out of the apartment._

_

* * *

_

_Tatooine_

_32 BBY_

Sabe dreamed of Naboo that night.

She was standing in the streets, once again surrounded by battle droids with the others flanking her. All at once, just as before, the Jedi dropped into view from nowhere, their lightsabers flashing as they quickly dispatched the droids. She felt Qui-Gon's hand on her arm again, heard the same words. "We must leave the streets, your highness."

The conversation proceeded just as on the previous day, with the Jedi hastening her and her entourage to the hangar. Outside, everyone turned to her to make the decision to stay or flee.

But this time as she turned, Padme was gone. In a panic she looked for the disguised Queen, but only the other handmaidens looked at her expectantly. "Where is the handmaiden, Padme?" She asked, but they just shook their heads in confusion.

And then, over the shoulders of the Jedi, she saw the people of Naboo limping and crawling toward them, some bloodied and others starving with shadowed eyes and protruding ribs. Behind them, Naboo was changing. Rather than the graceful turrets of the palace, she saw permacrete structures piling one on top of the other, bridges and factory smokestacks. It all layered and lengthened until the light from the sun itself was blocked, and the orange glow of streetlights was the only illumination. "Where is Padme?" She repeated frantically.

Obi-Wan stepped in front of her, grasping her shoulder and shaking hard. "It's only you now, Sabe," He said, his smile mocking and malicious. "Wake up, you are the only one now. Wake—"

"—Up," Obi-Wan's voice bled into Eirtae's, and Sabe sat straight up in bed, gasping.

"Gods, Sabe," Eirtae said, jumping back from her.

"A dream," Sabe explained, still breathing quickly.

"Well, hurry up," Eirtae said. "The Queen has not returned and the Padawan has communicated with Master Jinn."

Sabe bit back an angry reply, reminding herself that even Padme had been on the receiving end of Eirtae's sharp words on more than one occasion. She threw off her covers and stood, allowing Eirtae to guide her to a chair before the vanity where the handmaiden began dressing her hair and Rabe began applying the thick white makeup. "What time is it?" Sabe managed to ask around Rabe's ministrations.

"Just after Tatooine's dawn, but well into Naboo's afternoon," Eirtae said with obvious disapproval.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"I wouldn't let her," Rabe cut in. "You need your rest to heal properly."

"Any word from Padme?" Sabe asked.

Rabe shook her head.

"Maybe…they are on their way back?" Sabe suggested doubtfully.

"I doubt it. I don't even think they will begin before tomorrow morning," Eirtae said.

"Tomorrow? I was hoping we'd be on our way by tonight!" Sabe exclaimed.

"We'll see," Eirtae said skeptically.

Sabe was going to ask her about her negativity, but Rabe plopped the feathered headdress down over her head before she got the chance.

Fifteen minutes later, Sabe was reflecting on just how much she was beginning to hate the bare, windowless receiving room.

"Qui-Gon has made some headway," Obi-Wan said. Apparently he had made contact with his Master sometime the previous evening. "He expects that he will be able to procure the necessary parts tomorrow morning."

Sabe nearly groaned aloud in disappointment. "And how is this to come about?"

If she was not mistaken, that was the identical look to a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "He has made several…ah…investments that he will use to pay the debt."

"What manner of investments?" Sabe asked suspiciously.

"Master Jinn did not give me details, but he assured me that Handmaiden Padme is seeing to it that he acts in a manner befitting the protection of her highness," Obi-Wan said evasively, bowing.

He could not have picked a more diplomatic way of pacifying her, Sabe reflected. But something was afoot. "Very well," she said as imperiously as she could. "We expect that Master Jinn will not act outside the laws of the Republic or Naboo, and that his padawan will update us frequently."

To her surprise, his eyes twinkled merrily. But before she could understand what had amused him so suddenly, his face was the picture of gravity once more. "As you say, your highness."

Obi-Wan's strange behavior was explained when Padme com-linked a while later. She was tense and irritable, and looked uncharacteristically tired and disheveled on the screen. "These Jedi are _insufferable_," she spluttered as soon as the connection was clear.

"What's happening?" Eirtae asked over Sabe's shoulder.

"Master Qui-Gon," Padme began, pronouncing his name with the utmost contempt. "Has used _our ship _as the entry fee for a pod race in Mos Espa."

"What!"

Padme spared a little grin at their chorused outburst and briefly related the events of the last day. "The boy Anakin will be operating a pod in the Boonta Eve race tomorrow. _Boonta _Eve, mind you! That they celebrate a notorious pirate should be enough to tell you what sort of place we are in. If we win, we'll have our hyperdrive. If we lose…" she trailed off ominously.

"We're screwed," Eirtae said mournfully. Rabe gave her a disapproving look.

"Well…yes," Padme agreed. She shook her head. "What's happening there?"

They all began talking at once.

"—Padawan Kenobi has been playing the secret squirrel during briefings," Sabe put in.

"—And we were attacked by Tusken Raiders." Rabe interrupted.

"—And Sabe ran off again and got wounded," Eirtae finished with satisfaction.

Padme seemed dizzy with the information, but she finally latched on to the very thing Sabe hoped she wouldn't. "Wounded?"

"Just a scratch," Sabe said uncomfortably.

She squirmed before the look of concern on Padme's face.

"It was a little more than a scratch, Sabe," Rabe said softly.

"Why on earth would you have occasion to be wounded?" Padme asked, her voice a bit shrill.

"The Tusken raiders attacked the ship. I heard them, and went to help," Sabe explained defensively.

Padme said nothing for a moment. Then she gave a deep sigh, the sound of a mother hen with a troublesome brood.

"I was only…trying to make my characterization of you more accurate," Sabe joked lamely.

"After this, you'll have no grounds to criticize, Sabe," Padme said with her eyes closed. "I hope your little exercise did not compromise protocol?"

Rabe and Eirtae's eyes were suddenly intense on her face. She gave them a pleading look, and finally Rabe guided Eirtae away by the arm so she could confer with Padme alone. "He recognized that I had been outside," Sabe stammered. "But he has not remembered me, and he has no reason to think that I am not the Queen."

Clear relief crossed Padme's face. "Good. That is a complication I do not need right now." She huffed. "Qui-Gon gives me enough trouble as a handmaiden. I can only imagine how he would behave if he knew I was Queen."

Sabe stifled a smirk. Qui-Gon was unchanged, at least. "Master Qui-Gon has long held a decidedly odd sense of humor."

"Well, his sense of humor is lost on me since it is at my expense," Padme groused. "Using this boy in his elaborate chess match with _my ship.._."

Sabe's grin broke through her control. She could see that Padme was well on her way to a towering rage. "If he is investing so much in this boy there must be a reason."

Padme's forehead crinkled. "There is something about him. He is…untouched. And smart. Master Jinn could not hide that he was a Jedi for long."

"You think every child is a prophet," Sabe teased.

"I've never known a child like Anakin before," Padme said softly.

_Anakin…_ There was something in the name. Some echo, like the drip of water from somewhere within a cavern. "I wish I could meet the boy who has captured the Queen's heart so completely."

"I wish you could too," Padme said, frowning. "The conditions these people live in…they are very different from Naboo, Sabe."

Suddenly she turned, as if interrupted from someone behind her. "I must go, Sabe. Anakin needs a hand with the pod."

She turned back toward the screen, her face stern but her eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth. "No more adventures, Sabe,"

"Of course," Sabe said, her cheeks coloring.

"Try to send Anakin your courage tomorrow," Padme said affectionately. "He will need it."

The comvid screen clicked to blackness. Sabe threw it aside and leaned back on her bed, resting her head on her arm as she stared at the ceiling. Part of her was relieved Padme had taken the news of her wound so lightly. But part of her was still deeply ashamed as Rabe and Eirtae's disapproval had sunk in. Padme's news about the race came back to her and cold fear closed around her heart. The success or failure of their mission was on the edge of a knife. She thought of Governor Bibble, of Sache, and Yane.

The fate of all of them rested on the shoulders of this unknown boy. Remembering Padme's last words, Sabe closed her eyes, reached out with her feelings, and attempted to send encouragement in the direction of Mos Espa.

* * *

The rest of the day made Sabe almost long for another attack to break up the monotony.

In a way they were fortunate. The Nubian had been lavishly outfitted for Queen Amidala's diplomatic missions. There were two holds, forward and aft, just before the receiving room and the turbolift to the raised cockpit. Within the forward hold were a simple dining area, computer consoles, and even hydroponic lamps providing light for some lower maintenance Naboovian greens. In front of that was the corridor with a kitchen on one side and the crewmen's bunkroom on the other. Their separate quarters at the end of the corridor allowed them to mostly isolate themselves from the rest of the crew and from Obi-Wan, shielding Sabe from detection. The accommodations were comfortable even in the desert heat, and there was no need to worry about their food supply yet. But there was no way for them to get a break from one another either. And while Rabe and Eirtae managed to find ways to entertain themselves, Sabe could find nothing among Padme's book collection to interest her, nothing in their quarters to distract her from everything that had happened.

Toward evening Rabe brought a food tray and all but forced it upon Sabe. But Sabe found her appetite lacking, and Rabe and Eirtae seemed to share her opinion, soon pushing their own trays aside. For a while Rabe busied herself with changing Sabe's dressings and exclaiming over her injury, but soon there was nothing for any of them to do but make ready for bed. Rabe flicked out the light, and Sabe heard the rustling sounds as the other two handmaidens made themselves comfortable. Then there was silence, and Sabe thought they were drifting off, until she heard Rabe's voice, small in the dark.

"Do you think Sache and Yane are all right?"

After a moment, Eirtae answered brusquely, "They're handmaidens aren't they?" Sabe heard her roll over. "Good, tough stock."

Sabe smiled a little. She wasn't sure either Sache or Yane quite had Eirtae's grit. She thought of shy Sache, the girl with a fondness for animals and flowers who still got too easily distracted. And Yane, with her infectious giggle, seemed to know the doings of every man, woman, and child within twenty miles of Theed. She could not fathom either of them in the prison camps.

Soon she heard Rabe and Eirtae's deep, regular breathing. She lay still as still as she could herself, but after an hour she gave up. Even if she did sleep, she had the uneasy feeling that it would only be to more nightmares. Quietly she slipped from her bed and pulled a blue cloak over her head. Wincing from her wound, she padded across the floor toward the door.

The ship was mostly silent, with a few low murmurings from the crewmen's bunkroom as they engaged in a card game, and the thrum of the power generators below the floor that kept them cool and supplied with light. Sabe held her breath as she walked past the partially open bunkroom door, and entered the hold.

Her heart nearly stopped as she realized she wasn't alone. From the far corner, the reddish glow of a computer console lit the chiseled features of Obi-Wan. But he did not sense her presence immediately, engaged as he was in a conversation by comlink. A thread of excitement raised his voice above its normal level."…higher than Master Yoda's."

Her interest piqued, she crept closer. She had not seen much of Obi-Wan outside of his briefings, and during them his reports remained deliberately cryptic.

"Yes," Sabe recognized Qui-Gon's voice, muffled by the static of the comlink.

"What does that mean?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I don't know," Qui-Gon said. There was a pause, and then the sound of the comlink disengaging.

For as long as she had known him, Obi-Wan had always been tightly controlled, inscrutable. But now Sabe was fascinated by the emotions she was picking up from him. She wondered what had happened to work him up so much. She moved a bit closer and peered at his computer screen.

It appeared to be a graph, and she had seen something like it before. _A blood analysis_, she realized after a moment, remembering her own from the Temple many years ago. Then Obi-Wan shifted, and she was able to see the count listed below the graph. She gave an involuntary gasp.

Obi-Wan turned his head toward her, and stood with a courtly bow. "If you are curious, your highness, you have only to ask."

Sabe flushed. "Pardon my intrusion. My curiosity overcame my manners."

"No intrusion your highness," Obi-Wan's brows lifted. "This is your ship."

Sabe suddenly wondered if he had recognized her instantly on the streets of Theed and was only playing with her now. _No, Jedi aren't that cruel, _she thought. She crossed the room, adjusting her hood to shadow her features, and leaned down to see the screen more clearly. "If I may ask…"

"This is a midi-chlorian blood level," Obi-Wan looked ready to give her an explanation, but Sabe raised her hand.

"I recognize it. Who does it belong to?"

Obi-Wan's eyebrows shot up.

"We learned of them in the academy," Sabe explained quickly. It was not a complete untruth.

"I suppose we are studied as an oddity in Naboo," Obi-Wan said, the corners of his mouth lifting. "As we are in many systems."

Sabe swallowed. "Not so much as you might imagine."

Obi-Wan cleared his throat, changing the subject. "Was there something else you needed, your highness?"

Sabe glanced longingly back toward her only escape route. "I…couldn't sleep. I thought if it was safe I might venture outside."

Obi-Wan fixed her with his calm blue eyes. _He used to smile more, _Sabe thought suddenly, and then turned her face away lest her thought betray her. "I will escort you," He said.

They climbed down the small maintenance hatch beneath the aft hull. Obi-Wan gave her a hand down and Sabe made a sound of surprise as her boots sank into several inches of fine white sand. Though the air was chilly, the sand retained the day's heat, encasing her feet in warmth. She saw two guards on either end of the ship turn at the sound, and then relax again at the sight of Obi-Wan, their hands falling away from their blasters.

The desert was transformed from the tumultuous horror of the previous day to perfect quiet. The play of shadows on the ever-changing dunes was graceful, the ripples and curves reminding Sabe of the braids in a Naboovian woman's hair. The contrast of the orange sand against the dusky purple sky had a completely alien quality to it. But the beauty did not comfort her. And it seemed completely lost on Obi-Wan.

"It is nothing but a sheer expanse of desert," He said with distaste. "Scorched by two relentless suns."

"Is there no water here at all?" Sabe asked.

"Deep within the mantle there is a little. Tatooine's main industry is moisture farming." Obi-Wan explained. He turned, pointing to flickering lights that looked to be about five miles away. "That is Mos Espa."

"What a harsh place," Sabe remarked. "I can't imagine people living here."

"One can grow accustomed to most anything, your highness."

Sabe shivered, thinking suddenly of the cavernous avenues of Coruscant, the stink and refuse everywhere, the feeling of constantly being chased. "I suppose so."

Pulling her cloak around her against the nocturnal chill, she left the shelter of the ship's wing, looked up, and let out her breath. Thousands of spangles dazzled her eyes. She could pinpoint the hazy glow of a the Tingel Arm, but of course all the constellations were entirely different here. There were some brighter bodies low on the horizon which she figured to be moons, but she could recognize nothing. She glanced over at Obi-Wan. He too stared off into the distance, but he did not have the dreamy look of one enjoying the heavens. "What are you looking at?"

"I sense the raiders, just over that rise," he said. "I can feel their curiosity, and their fear."

She supposed it was just too much to expect that a Jedi would do something as capricious as looking at stars. _ But I am not like them,_ she told herself firmly, raising her head again. "Are you familiar at all with the constellations here?"

"Tolerably," He replied. "I studied the charts before our landing."

Sabe wondered if he was ever caught unprepared in any situation. "Where is Naboo?"

Obi-Wan considered for a few moments and then moved behind her, pointing over her shoulder so she could follow the line of his arm to the faint red dot just beyond his finger. Her shoulders slumped when she saw how small it appeared. Naboo was a lifetime away. Suddenly rather than beautiful, the foriegn arrangment of stars above seemed threatening. A breath of wind caught Obi-Wan's robe sleeve, fanning it against her cheek, and she realized how closely he was standing to her. She shrank away from him. Obi-Wan, noticing her movement, dropped his arm and moved to a respectful distance.

"You told us that transmission was a trick," Sabe ventured in a small voice. "If you assure me again that it is true, I will believe it."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "There is no way of knowing what is happening on Naboo."

"As a child I learned of Master Jinn's calculating and competent nature. Perhaps those tales were exaggerated?"

Obi-Wan smiled faintly. "You were correctly informed." He turned his head toward the lights of Mos Espa.

"But you are worried." Sabe commented.

He looked back at her, his brow knitting. "I…will not be surprised if we have an additional passenger when we leave this planet."

"Oh?" Sabe remembered the midi-chlorian count, and suddenly recalled Padme's description of the boy who would save or sink them. She considered his phrasing. "Don't you mean…if we leave?"

"When," he said emphatically. His blue eyes flicked to her, and they were kind. "We will reach Coruscant, of that I have no doubt. The rest we leave to you, your highness."

Sabe clutched the cloak more tightly around her, lowering her head so the hood totally obscured her eyes. If it had really been up to her, all would be lost. But thinking of Padme, she had every reason to be hopeful. "The Federation will feel Naboo's anger," she said softly.

She turned back toward the ship. Obi-Wan lingered behind, his eyes scanning the dunes with laser-like focus. Pausing, Sabe looked back. There was something in the way his robes blew away from his form, or maybe the proud line of his profile against the black sky. For tonight she could not hold anything against him, not when he and Qui-Gon stood with Padme, Naboo's last line of defense.

"Padawan Kenobi," she said.

He looked back at her.

"Thank you for your vigil," she said softly, and climbed back into the ship.


	6. Turbulence

Chapter Six : Turbulence

_Tatooine_

_11:34 CT_

"Please, Sabe, leave off the pacing!" Rabe pleaded.

Sabe stopped mid-stride "Sorry," she mumbled, sitting on the edge of her bed.

She had nearly worn a track through the brilliant crimson carpeting of the Queen's quarters. She had done everything she could think of to alleviate the nervous thought that the pod race was finishing as they sat there. She had helped Rabe mend yet another cloak, had read Eirtae's datapad over her shoulder until the girl threatened her with painful punishments if she did not stop, and had nervously nibbled the food that Rabe fetched from the kitchen. But she was now out of options and felt she might very well be slipping toward madness.

Padme had comlinked two hours previously to tell them that the race was beginning. Since then, there had not been a word. Not knowing how long a pod race lasted, Sabe wondered seriously if they ought to start thinking about a rescue mission. She had heard the Hutts had very unpleasant punishments for those who renigged on their gambling debts.

Sabe expelled a tortured sigh and turned to the mirror, straightening her dress and hood and checking her makeup as she prepared to venture to the receiving chamber.

"What are you doing?" Eirtae asked.

"Relax, Eirtae, I'm only going to the receiving chamber," Sabe replied. "Everyone is too busy to notice me, and I need some privacy to set my mind in order."

She just caught the perplexed look Eirtae and Rabe exchanged as she went through the door. Meditation was not a common practice on Naboo, and neither of them knew anything about her past other than the fact that she was from Coruscant. Suddenly she felt a little guilty about not being more forthright. She had expected this time alone with them to be terribly unpleasant. And in some ways, it had been. But she was beginning to feel strong respect for the both of them. _Perhaps I'll tell them everything later, _she thought, as she quietly passed through the corridor and let herself into the empty receiving chamber.

She made herself comfortable on the throne, and rested her hands across her knees. As a child in the academy she would often engage in meditation without really even meaning to, missing whole lectures to the dismay of her instructors as she allowed her mind to roam unbridled through the passions and vibrations all around her. But since, she had restrained herself. Sometimes what she found behind closed eyes was just too difficult to handle. Other times it was so easy, and she felt herself sliding toward a place she feared to go.

But today she felt solace as she allowed her senses to dull until the only one left was her sense of herself. Her physical perceptions receded to a comfortable distance. What she found within always surprised her to some degree. She turned over her thoughts like scattered pages, examining, considering, and then gently replacing them where she had found them. Here was Naboo, and here was Padme. She held those thoughts close to her, letting them warm her. Here was her fear for herself, her fear of the past. And here…here was something new, the smallest particle of something. It was hidden, like static waiting to spark in dark cloth. It somehow related to the long line of Obi-Wan's arm, directing her eyes towards the night sky, the fall of brown cloth from that arm, and the curl of a light breeze past, causing the cloth to brush against her cheek.

Sabe cast it away. _Later. I'll look at that one later._

She reached out, and if the products of her physical senses were like a holovid projection, now she looked at the static, the grainy lines weaving through, the blue glow that lit it. She found herself alone, a small figure on the edge of some infinite expanse, an undulating white sea. And then, with two more measured breaths, she was the sea, fluid and indefinable. She was nothing but a small part of the consciousness that some called the Gods and others called the Force. She had never chosen a side. She could just simply be there, soothed by its continuous white noise.

She knew they were all there, though she was not skilled enough to discriminate them. They were all represented by the small points of light sliding over and around her; Rabe, the peacemaker, Eirtae, the firebrand, Obi-Wan the sentinal, Qui-Gon the Master, and Padme the warrior Queen. There were also the Tusken Raiders, the residents of Mos Espa, the lizards that scrambled in the sand, and the sand itself. She couldn't pinpoint which sparks rushing past were which but she knew that everything real and imagined was there, past, present, and future. The sense of interconnectedness was a drugging calm, and she was able to let go of the parts of herself she usually clung to tooth and nail. Her physical body responded. Her heartbeat slowed, and her breath evened out. Even her body temperature cooled a fraction.

Suddenly, a tremor rippled through her haven, and a shadow was cast upon her, stretching from far away. She turned her awareness slowly toward the source, focusing her senses.

It was an approaching… _something._ It was as violent as a cyclone, purple-black against the metaphysical sea in which she floated. But unlike her and everything around her, it was brutally separate and defined. It had consciousness and intention, and ripped and tore through continuity, poisoning it. Anger, hatred, bloodlust, and self-loathing emanated from it, washing over her mind like acid rain. In the epicenter of the purple-black, sentient storm, it seemed to her that a low voice echoed like distant thunder.

_Peace is a lie, there is only passion._

Her soul seemed to turn to stone as it reached across miles of space and caught her with an icy touch. With the brush of its consciousness she could feel what it offered; dark shadows and endless tunnels, limitless power and the absence of consequence. And as she examined it with horrified fascination, she realized that it could _feel _her looking. She had a vague impression of yellow eyes turning in her direction. They were the color of leprosy, and they were sneering… It was inviting her. Beckoning her. The freezing touch was almost…seductive.

Sabe's eyes snapped open. There was a hand shaking her by the shoulder. She focused her vision to see Eirtae's concerned face in front of her.

Eirtae rocked back, her hand over her heart. "Gods, you gave us a start. What just happened?"

Sabe looked around. Rabe was standing on her other side, her face as worried as Eirtae's.

"I'm not sure…" Sabe murmured. "How long have I been sitting here?"

"Two hours," Rabe said.

Sabe's jaw dropped. It felt as if she had only closed her eyes a moment before.

"We were going to leave you alone, but then Padawan Kenobi called us and told us to make ready for takeoff, so we came to get you," Eirtae explained. "But you were shaking from head to foot and saying things we couldn't make out."

"Is it your wound?" Rabe asked, putting a gentle hand to Sabe's forehead.

Sabe shook off her hand. "Take off?" she asked impatiently.

Eirtae grinned. "Yes! He won! That little boy came through!"

"It took no time at all for Padawan Kenobi to repair the hyperdrive," Rabe said happily. "And Padme comlinked not ten minutes ago to say she was almost back. Isn't it wonderful, Sabe?"

"But…what about Master Qui-Gon?" Sabe asked dizzily.

Eirtae shrugged. "I don't know, something about a last minute errand in Mos Espa. Wait, Sabe—!"

But Sabe was already halfway out the door. She had the presence of mind to adjust the hood around her face and check her reflection in one of the windows to ensure her face was still hidden. But her steps were hurried as she made her way to the mechanical room at the rear of the aft hold.

Reaching the doorway, she nearly ran into Obi-Wan coming out, his face as disturbed as hers. Without bothering with exposition, she grabbed his arm. "Have you sensed it?"

She needn't have asked, and he barely seemed to notice her. His eyes were already directed away from her, out the lowered ramp where R2D2 and a droid she had never seen before were carrying boxes and equipment back into the ship. Sabe saw Padme with them, speaking with the Gungun. She saw Sabe standing in the entranceway, and raised her head in a wave, smiling as she opened her mouth to say hello.

Sabe never heard her greeting. She saw something else beyond Padme; a faint cloud of dust as if an animal was kicking it up, the faintest of blue and red flashes. A bit closer, a small boy was running and stumbling across the sand in their direction, panic making him clumsy as he waved his arms frantically to get their attention.

"Get to the receiving chamber and buckle in!" Obi-Wan ordered, brushing past her and hurrying outside.

Sabe lifted her skirts and ran toward the receiving chamber. Halfway she met Eirtae and Rabe. "Come on!" she cried. "This is going to be a rough takeoff!"

"What's going on?" Eirtae demanded as they followed her, but Sabe didn't know how to answer.

They were buckled in when the door of the receiving chamber opened. It was Padme, still in her peasant's clothing. She buckled her own safety harness with fumbling fingers. "Brace yourselves. Something followed Anakin and Master Jinn from Mos Espa. Master Jinn is fighting it."

"Huh?" Rabe managed, five or six steps behind.

They heard the engines firing and a sharp bump as the ship lifted from the ground. But there was no time for celebration.

"We're flying very low," Eirtae observed.

"Yes," Padme replied. "We are going to pick him up."

A few seconds later, they heard a commotion in the corridor. Through the closed door they heard crewmen hurrying past from their quarters to the forward deck. Several blasters fired, and Sabe heard a young boy's shout.

"Did he get in?" Sabe wondered aloud, but no one could answer her. They felt the turbulence of the ship ripping through atmosphere. Then the room leveled off and they felt the uncomfortable lift of weightlessness, followed by the tug of artificial gravity.

Padme unbuckled her safety harness. "I'll go see what I can find out."

Left alone again, Rabe and Eirtae turned on Sabe. "What was that all about?" Eirtae demanded.

"I…I felt something," Sabe stuttered, realizing she couldn't think of words to explain it away.

"What do you mean you 'felt something?'" Rabe asked.

"In my meditation. I felt something…vile." Sabe explained.

Rabe and Eirtae looked at one another. "You…sensed the thing that attacked Master Jinn?" Rabe asked disbelievingly.

Sabe nodded.

"But how?" Rabe asked.

Sabe closed her eyes, shaking her head. "It's difficult to explain."

Eirtae's blue eyes were locked on her face with unnerving intensity. "You're like them, aren't you?" She said slowly. "Like the Jedi."

Sabe raised her head. "What makes you think that?"

Eirtae bit her lip, thinking. "I don't know…something. Especially when you are pretending to be the Queen. Like a cold feeling in my spine. I get the same feeling whenever they are nearby. And that raider," she said suddenly, remembering. "It was like you knew exactly where your blade was going to go before you threw it."

Sabe stared at the tops of her boots, at a loss for words.

"Sabe?" Rabe pressed.

The words seemed half pulled out of her, and she hated the way they sounded. "I was in the Temple for a short time."

Rabe unbuckled her safety harness, standing. "You _did _know Master Jinn and the padawan before they came to Theed."

Sabe nodded.

"You lied?"

"Padme knew," Sabe said defensively. "I...I didn't think it mattered."

Eirtae threw off her own belt. "That's just like you, Sabe. You never tell anybody anything. You just run off on your own. Like you think you are better than all of the rest of us."

"It's not like that!" Sabe protested. She looked at Rabe for help.

But Rabe shook her dark head contemplatively. "Eirtae has a point."

Sabe opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"You've never been a team player, Sabe," Rabe said. "Because you don't want to be. You don't trust anyone. Not even Padme, really."

Sabe found that she was trembling suddenly, her hands fisted in her skirt.

Padme picked that unfortunate moment to walk in. "Well, Qui-Gon seems to be unhurt, though I think even he was shaken." She looked around, suddenly noticing the strained quiet that greeted her. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Of course not, your majesty," Rabe said with forced lightness.


	7. City of a Million Faces

**Chapter Seven : Metropolis**

** A/N : Thanks again for the reviews! It sure is motivating to know some people like what I'm doing with this :-) . It looks like the story is going to round out to about 14-15 chapters, but the chapters are getting increasingly difficult to write because I've been trying to cram so much stuff into them. Also, school starts up again in a week or two, so that will probably slow my updates down a lot. Still, no worries about finishing. I have a pretty solid handle on where the story is going and how it will end. (Of course the fact that it isn't all that AU helps with that, doesn't it?). Keep reading and reviewing. Cheers!  
**

_Coruscant_

_42 BBY_

_The master and his padawan burst into the training area, greeted by a chorus of goading young voices. Thirty or so younglings stood there in a loose, noisy circle. But at the two Jedi's approach the children scattered, and they could see the two in the middle._

_The girl was clearly getting the best of her larger opponent. She sat on his chest, pummeling him with her fists. The boy's nose dribbled blood as he tried to fend off the blows with an inarticulate howl. She jumped off him, gasping for breath. A transparisteel display case on the far wall exploded, and the room itself seemed to flex outward. The other children screamed and backed into the opposite corners._

_"Sabe!"_

_Qui-Gon rarely raised his voice, but when a certain edge came to his tone, people dared not ignore it. The girl stiffened, and the air seemed to clear again. Before her, the boy trembled._

_"What is going on here?" Qui-Gon demanded._

_The boy scrambled to his feet, moving away from the red-haired demon. "She just went crazy, Master Jinn!"_

_Obi-Wan gave him a skeptical look, and Sabe glared at him. He shrank behind some older children. _

_Qui-Gon rounded on the girl. "Sabe, why have you done this?"_

_She refused to meet his eyes, her hands clenching the material of her cloak as she continued to try and catch her breath._

_"Sabe?"_

_She mumbled something, and Qui-Gon leaned down to catch it. "He stole my staff."_

_"What?"_

_"He took my staff," she repeated, her eyes flashing. "And knocked me down. He said I was no better than a Sith."_

_Then her voice dropped and her eyes filled though she raised her chin a fraction higher. "He said I was no better than a Sith, but that even the Sith didn't want me because I was only Coruscanti street trash."_

_Qui-Gon turned to the boy, who said nothing, and cowered even more. "Help these children pick up this mess," he said to Sabe. "And then return to our quarters at once."_

_She made no reply, but shuffled to the wall and began picking up the shards of transparisteel from the floor. The other children seemed tongue-tied by what they had witnessed and helped her with no protest at all. They cut her a wide berth as they worked._

_Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan supervised the cleanup, and then sent the children on their way, ensuring that Sabe and the boy left through opposite doors. When they had set the room to order, they left, walking in the direction of Qui-Gon's chamber. _

_They were halfway there when Obi-Wan spoke up hesitantly. "That was Glaive, master."_

_"Yes," Qui-Gon said._

"_The boy is a notorious bully."_

_"I am aware of it," Qui-Gon replied grimly._

_"It's only that…" Obi-Wan looked sidelong at Qui-Gon's stony face and continued. "Well, if I may say so, to see the tables turned for once..."_

_"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon's tone was chiding, but his look at Obi-Wan was affectionate. "Children are often cruel, but never as cruel as adults. A Jedi's strength is too great to lose control every time he is treated unjustly."_

_Obi-Wan frowned and made no reply, and Qui-Gon did not pursue the conversation any further. He had finally made the decision he would present to the Council the following day._

_

* * *

_

_Coruscant Orbit_

_32 BBY_

_18:45 CT_

At last...

Sabe pressed cold fingers to the transparisteel cabin window in the Queen's Quarters as Rabe struggled to arrange her hair in a style that would keep it out of sight beneath the hood of the black traveling gown. She had only ventured a few times to Coruscant with Padme on political assignments. And though the stark metallic spectacle of the city-planet had its own kind of beauty, she had never grown accustomed to this descent.

Her eyes were glued to the window as they made their final approach. Necklaces of light criss-crossed the gentle curve of the planet's surface in complex and shifting patterns. The atmosphere above was alive with traffic, the ships appearing like luminescent swarms of insets from this distance. Coruscant's pollution was legendary, and as they descended through the border between vacuum and sickly yellow smog, Sabe felt as if she were being sucked in by more than just gravity.

Their return trip had proven to be uneventful, which seemed like a relief to everyone. Just as Obi-Wan had predicted, the boy Anakin had accompanied them. Padme told them he was to be trained as a Jedi Knight. Sabe had found herself fascinated by him, watching him carefully whenever he visited their quarters. He was a bright and lively little boy, about ten years old, and he seemed to have decided that Padme was a kind of Goddess. But he had long moments of pensiveness, too. Padme said he had a left a mother behind in Tatooine, a mother he was very close to.

Shortly after they'd taken off, they'd been briefed by the Jedi. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been as cryptic as ever, telling them only that the mysterious assailant in the desert was apparently after the Queen. Sabe wondered what it was they suspected, and why they neglected to mention that the creature was strong in the Force. Her perceptions right before the attack disturbed her already troubled mind even further, and despite her dislike for the planet, she found herself very glad to have reached Coruscant.

Soon she could pick out the circular landing platform that was their destination. She recognized the tall figure of Senator Palpatine and voiced a small groan. Feeling Padme behind her, she decided to try her luck one more time. "Are you sure you don't want to play this time around? The Senator knows you well. He may catch us."

Padme laughed. "Nice try. Even if he did you know very well we can trust him to keep it to himself. Really, Sabe, just because you don't like him…"

Sabe frowned. It wasn't exactly that she didn't like him. Maybe his fussy city ways, his immaculate coiffure, and his elegant clothing and mannerisms were just too much for her. Or maybe it was that his devotion to Padme always seemed just a shade over the top, the habits of a man who saw not the Queen herself, but where a strong alliance with the Queen could get him. But he was a politician after all, and that was how skilled politicians got things accomplished.

Sabe resigned herself to being nice to him, and then worried her lower lip as she picked out the high dome of the Senate building in the distance. "Will they listen, Padme?"

Padme's eyes were dark with weariness. She hadn't had much sleep. She had watched that cursed transmission from Naboo almost every twenty minutes for the last three days, and each time the shadows in her eyes seemed to increase. "The senators are public servants just like I am. It will be very difficult for the Trade Federation to frame their actions in a sympathetic light."

The ship made a final turn and came to rest on the platform, and Sabe and the others descended the ramp as soon as it rested on the ground. The imposing Senate guard stood before them in their black-feathered regalia. At the end of the lane they formed stood Senator Palpatine and Supreme Chancellor Valorum.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan led them, bowing deeply before the Chancellor. They parted respectfully to allow Sabe through.

Senator Palpatine clasped Sabe's hand in his as she approached. His skin was clammy, she noticed with distaste. "It's a great gift to see you alive, your majesty. With the commications breakdown we've been very concerned. I'm anxious to hear your report on the situation."

He turned and inclined his head deferentially to his companion. "May I present Supreme Chancellor Valorum."

Sabe studied the taller man carefully. She had only seen holovids of him before this moment, and they did not do him justice. He had a close-cropped head of iron colored hair above a high, intelligent brow. His face was chiseled and handsome in spite of his age, but appeared careworn with lines of fatigue beneath kind grey eyes. It was difficult to believe that this was the man indirectly responsible for all of Naboo's suffering. "Welcome, your highness," he said, his accent cultured. "It is an honor to finally meet you in person."

Sabe's instincts made her like the man immediately, but Padme had instructed her to remain cold. "Thank you, Supreme Chancellor," she said haughtily.

"I must relate to you how distressed everyone is over the current situation," He continued. "I've called for a special session of the Senate to hear your position."

"We are grateful for your concern," Sabe said, and deliberately showed the man her back as she walked with Senator Palpatine to the Chancellor's shuttle.

"There is a question of procedure, but I'm confident we can overcome it," Senator Palpatine was saying.

Sabe wondered what questions of the procedure there could be. An invasion was an invasion. This did not bode well. She sought Padme out, and found her lingering behind the others, beckoning to Anakin. Beyond her, Sabe caught one final view of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan speaking with the Chancellor. _I suppose this will be the last time I ever see them, _she thought. The realization should have brought her relief, but she found that it wasn't what she felt at all.

* * *

"The Republic is not what it once was."

Sabe was fidgeting again, her eyes directed out the window toward the senate rotunda, just visible over three blocks of towering buildings. She stopped her nervous hands forcibly. Luckily her large sleeves hid her anxiety from Senator Palpatine's eyes. The man's attention was directed elsewhere anyway.

"There is no interest in the common good…no civility, only politics," He turned toward where Padme now sat in the Queen's place bedecked in a dove-colored kimono, her hair encased in a dramatic fan of gold and lace. "I must be frank, your Majesty. There is little chance the Senate will act on the invasion."

A heartbeat of a pause was the only hint at Amidala's despair. "Chancellor Valorum seems to think there is hope."

Palpatine began pacing slowly again. "If I may say so, your Majesty, the Chancellor has little real power…he is mired down by baseless accusations of corruption. The bureaucrats are in charge now."

Amidala lowered her eyes. "What options have we?"

Palpatine took a deep breath. "Our best choice would be to push for the election of a stronger Supreme Chancellor. One who will take control of the bureaucrats, enforce the laws, and give us justice. You could…" He directed a searching look at Amidala. "Call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum."

Sabe thought of the Chancellor's kindly grey eyes as Amidala inhaled sharply."But he's been our strongest supporter."

"Our only other choice would be to submit a plea to the courts."

Amidala's voice was irritated even behind the mask of the court accent. "The courts take even longer to decide things than the senate. Our people are _dying_, Senator. We must do something quickly to stop the Federation."

Palpatine sighed. "To be realistic, your Highness, I'd say we're going to have to accept Federation control for the time being."

Amidala shook her head. "That is something I cannot do."

* * *

It took time to get Padme ready for her senate appearance, because she had brought the most elaborate gown in her possession for it. It had no less than three layers of velvet, ornage silk, and thick adroit. Her hair was smoothed over two arching molds and hung with heavy gold ornaments, and the medal of the royal sovereign of Naboo was hung just over her forehead. "I'll be surprised if they even hear your speech from inside this getup," Eirtae muttered.

Sabe grinned at Padme and helped her pull on the final robe. She stepped back, looking her over. The youth and delicacy of her face was not any more hidden beneath this costume than any other. But her form was all symmetry and power. She seemed several feet taller, and suffused with a light that seemed to fill the room. For perhaps the first time, even Eirtae was rendered speechless. "You look…" Sabe began.

"Ridiculous," Padme finished for her.

Sabe smiled. "I was going to say tall."

Padme moved to the mirror with a little difficulty and looked into it. "Well," she sighed. "I don't want them to see a little girl from Naboo. I want them to be a little disturbed. A little intimidated."

Suddenly her shoulders slumped. "This isn't me at all."

"No," Sabe said. "It's Queen Amidala."

Padme pursed her painted lips and nodded slowly.

There was a knock at the outside door. They heard Rabe answer it, and then a young boy's voice.

"Anakin," Padme mouthed to Sabe in panic. Eirtae took the opportunity to step quickly in front of Sabe.

"I'm sorry, Anakin, but Padme isn't here right now," Rabe's voice sounded perfectly undisturbed from the other room, if a little higher than normal.

A muscle in Padme's face worked. "Who is it?" She called, and walked to the doorway.

Rabe bowed. "Anakin Skywalker, your highness. He is here to see Padme."

"I've sent Padme on an errand."

Sabe winced at her chilly tone. Was she practicing her intimidation on the boy?

"It's just…" the boy looked at his toes. "I'm going to the Temple to be trained as a Jedi. Hopefully. I may never see her again, and I wanted to tell her goodbye."

If Anakin had been better trained, he might have detected the wistfulness in Padme's face and her voice. Knowing her well, Sabe detected it at once. "We will tell her for you. We are sure her heart goes with you."

Sabe ached for the child as she listened to Rabe escorting him out. But she also directed curious eyes at Padme as she turned back to the mirror. The Queen had never become so quickly and firmly attached to anyone else before.

* * *

Given the pressure she had been under for the past few days, Padme had encouraged Sabe to take the night off and had taken Rabe and Eirtae with her to the Senate hearing. But sitting alone in their quarters, Sabe felt she couldn't stand the quiet. For a while she walked around their complex, watching dignitaries of all species and language coming and going. 500 Republica had often taken the breath of even the most worldly of the Galaxy's elite. The most exclusive residential building in the city, it served primarily senators, and was held as an example of the highest luxury. Sabe walked distractedly across soft Rotokellian rugs and floors set with precious stones from all over the Republic. She passed the wealthiest and most powerful people in the Galaxy. She went to the roof and watched the most technologically advanced ships in the known universe landing.

But finally she allowed her feet to take her where they truly wanted to go, and soon enough she found herself in the public galleys of the Senate Rotunda.

A politician had once called the public galleys of the republic the "largest sarlaak pit in the republic", and it might have been an apt name. Since the founding of the Republic it had always been a firm tradition for the public to be permitted to attend any open session. But it wasn't just concerned citizens that crowded the overhang circling the vast senate rotunda. Lobbyists, journalists, and public relations officers usually outnumbered the merely curious. And if one were especially careful and especially observant, one could observe more insidious practices going on. Money changed hands, alliances were made and broken, betrayals were arranged. Once, all this had occurred only in the darkest corners of the senate building. Now, it was less difficult to eavesdrop on the dirty business of politics.

Sabe pushed her way through the crowd to the railing of the balcony overlooking the rotunda. The session had already begun. In the enormous space, she saw the raised platform where the Chancellor presided with his the Vice Chairman and his two closest advisors. Nearly opposite her, almost a quarter mile away, she picked out the small golden and crimson figure of Amidala. She could barely distinguish Senator Palpatine beside her, and she could not see Rabe or Eirtae at all.

Though the meeting had been called to order, the conversation continued in the galleys undeterred. No demonstrations were officially allowed, and Sabe saw a number of attendees firmly escorted away by the Senate guards for carrying signs supporting or decrying the actions of the Trade Federation. The activity lessened only slightly when the Chancellor began speaking.

"The chair recognizes the Senator from the sovereign system of Naboo."

The Naboo congressional box separated from its neighbors and floated into the center of the chambers, beginning a slow rotation around the center platform. Senator Palpatine was standing.

"Supreme Chancellor, delegates of the Senate," the Senator paused for effect. "A tragedy has occurred, which began right here with the taxation of trade routes, and has now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation."

Another box rushed to the center of the chambers out of nowhere. With surprise, Sabe saw that it was filled with Neimoidians, led by the very same Neimoidian she'd often seen hurling threats at Queen Amidala by holograph, Lott Dodd.

"This is outrageous!" He exclaimed. "I object to the senator's statements."

"The chair does _not_ recognize the senator from the trade federation at this time," Chancellor Valorum said firmly.

Palpatine waited until the Neimoidians' box had returned to their station before he continued. "To state our allegations, I present Queen Amidala, recently elected ruler of Naboo, to speak on our behalf."

There was a smattering of applause as Amidala stood regally. Sabe looked toward it and saw Bail Antilles, a senator from Alderaan. His box was very near to her and he caught her eye as he continued to clap, smiling and nodding in recognition.

"Honorable representatives of the Republic," Amidala began, her voice ringing through the chambers. "I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. The Naboo system has been invaded by force. Invaded…against all the laws of the Republic by the Droid Armies of the Trade…"

The Neimoidians box zoomed back to the center once again. Sabe sighed beneath her hood as she heard Lott Dod's voice pipe up again. "I object! There is no proof! This is incredible! We recommend a commission be sent to Naboo to ascertain the truth."

"Overruled," Valorum boomed.

"Your Honor, you cannot allow us to be condemned without reasonable observation!"

A third box joined them, and a creature with three stalked eyes across its brow stood. Aks Moe, the ambassador from Malastare. "The Congress of Malastare concurs with the honorable delegate from the Trade Federation. A commission must be appointed. That is the law."

"The point…" Chancellor Valorum began, but suddenly a hand on his shoulder stopped him and he conferred with his aids and Vice Chairman. Sabe leaned forward unconsciously. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Senator Palpatine also whispering in Amidala's ear, his face grim.

"The point is conceded," The Chancellor said wearily.

Sabe's jaw dropped.

"Queen Amidala, will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusations?"

Sabe felt Amidala's rage from where she sat, but knew it had nothing to do with her abilities. Surely Chancellor Valorum himself could feel it at the podium. "I will _not _defer. I have come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee."

The harshly spoken words were met with a murmur of surprised conversation from around Sabe.

"If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed."

The murmur in the galleys increased in volume.

"I move for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

The murmur became a roar. All around the chambers and the galleys, senators, dignitaries, ambassadors, and visitors jumped from their seats, shouting in various languages. Sabe could hear both approval and anger in the tones of their voices. The vice chairman screamed for order and rapped his gavel sharply, but no one listened to him. A chant went up among the senators, which at first Sabe could not decipher. But it was soon taken up by almost everyone in the building.

"Vote now! Vote now! Vote now!"

Sabe looked around, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was not a governing body she saw, but a mindless rabble. Pushing back from the railing with disgust, she turned to leave the Galley—

--And nearly walked into Obi-Wan Kenobi.

With a little gasp she stepped back. His eyes flickered with immediate recognition, and she saw his mind begin to work as he realized that she was in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.

Sabe finally found her voice. "What are you doing here?"

Obi-Wan was slow to reply. "The council has vested interest in this proceeding. There are several of us here." He glanced to the side and Sabe followed his look to the several Jedi standing together there. Some were padawans, but she recognized a few Council members as well.

He moved nearer to her, his look intent. "A surprising move," His eyes narrowed. "By the _Queen."_

Sabe backed away, trying to think of some explanation, but salvage was impossible. In as dignified a manner as possible she inclined her head, slipping by him quickly and walking through the archway into the outer hall. But ever persistent, he easily matched her strides.

"You have a very distinct force presence. I could sense you in the desert immediately," He said almost casually. His eyes were like daggers.

"You must be such a credit to your Master," Sabe said nastily, sliding past a few dignitaries who were talking together quietly.

"In fact," he continued as if she were not insulting him and attempting to lose him among the crowds in the Great Hall. "I have often wondered why a girl of your abilities is not in the temple."

"I suppose I have only followed the path that the Force has laid before me," Sabe said mockingly. Then her breath caught as she realized what she had been mocking.

Obi-Wan's lips quirked. "How ironic. Those are the very words an initiate swears by when he or she enters the temple." His hand found her elbow, slowing her down for a step or two. "But of course you knew that. We have met before, have we not?"

Sabe extracted her arm from his grasp and backed away from him. "No we have not, Jedi Kenobi," she stuttered, botching his title in her acute fear. She reached for the handle of the outside door.

"Oh, I'm not a Jedi yet, only a padawan," His tone was light and unconcerned, as if he was enjoying the game. She flung open the door viciously as he continued. "So my senses are not as attuned as my master's. But I feel certain…"

His voice trailed off as the depressurized air from outside the senate building rushed in through the door, tumbling the hood from her head. Sabe stopped midstep, her hand frozen on the door handle. In the waning light of dusk her hair glowed as red as a Naboovian blood tulip. Two or three heartbeats passed before she could bear to raise her head. Slowly she turned to face Obi-Wan, unconsciously assuming the defensive stance he'd taught her once, in the training room of the Temple just blocks from where they stood.

Obi-Wan's eyes were comically wide as realization flooded over his face. "S-Sabe?"

She ran.


	8. Full Reverse

Chapter Seven: Full Reverse

_Jedi Temple, Coruscant_

_42 BBY_

"_Sabe, the Council has decided that you will not be trained as a Jedi."_

_Everyone in the Council Chambers was watching for her reaction. But there was none, except that her nervous hands stilled. _

_Qui-Gon put a hand on her shoulder. "So, young one, I have endeavored to find a good alternative for you."_

_It was subtle, the way she drew away from his hand, but it was lost on no one. He let his hand fall and faced the council. "I have been in contact with a Headmaster Ranard of the sovereign planet of Naboo. He has expressed interest in admitting Sabe to the Academy in Theed."_

_"Dealt with Ranard before, we have," Master Yoda remarked._

_"Yes," Qui-Gon replied. "A handful of former initiates were recruited into the Academy out of the AgriCorp. They received excellent training and treatment under his tutelage."_

_Several members of the council nodded appreciatively. Master Windu looked at the girl. "Naboo is a lush and beautiful planet in the mid-rim, and its academy in Theed is the finest in the Republic."_

_The girl said nothing. _

_"Do you wish to tell Obi-Wan goodbye before you depart?" Qui-Gon asked. _

_"No." _

_The Masters all raised their heads at her reply._

_"Obi-Wan and I cannot go with you," Qui-Gon said quietly. "You may not have another chance—"_

_"No!" She said sharply._

_"But have Master Jinn and his apprentice not treated you well?" Master Biloba asked._

_"Yes," the girl said with her head bowed._

_"Then why—" Master Biloba began, but Master Yoda raised his hand._

_"Very well, youngling," Yoda said. "Collect your things. Master Shaak Ti will be along for you shortly."_

_The little girl gave a stiff bow and left the room. Master Yoda folded his hands on top of his staff, resting his chin on them with a meditative "hmmm."_

_Master Windu broke the silence. "The girl has become accustomed to being abandoned." He looked at Qui-Gon. "Are you so certain she should be sent outside the Council's supervision with her abilities?"_

_"She will be cautioned to avoid using her abilities, of course," Qui-Gon said. _

_"A rule given to them all. And broken by them all, it is," Yoda said sagely._

"_Regardless, I think she is at far more danger on Bandomeer than unsupervised," Qui-Gon said. "She is too young and too fragile for such a life. And—"_

_"Too marked by her past she is, to accept the life of a Jedi," Yoda finished for him._

_"Yes," Qui-Gon agreed soberly. "Her fear and anger are great. But I believe she could flourish in a stable environment."_

_Master Windu steepled his hands. "Very well. I am in agreement. Are there any objections?"_

_No one moved._

_"Then we will proceed as Master Jinn has advised."_

_Outside the chambers, the girl took gulping breaths, her hand to her heart. It wasn't that she was surprised. She had expected this to happen any day. And now that it had, she never wanted to see Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan again._

_Suddenly she heard footsteps down the corridor. She looked up and recognized the lanky form heading in her direction. For a moment she stood frozen, like an animal stunned by a light in the dark. But then she turned and ran in the opposite direction. She did not look back._

_

* * *

_

_Coruscant_

_42 BBY_

She could never forget the way. Once, she had used this path after she had lifted the chrono of a dignitary straight from his belt loop. She left the Senate District at a sprint. Within a few moments she ducked into the flashing lights and confusion of the Urscru Entertainment District.

It was not much changed. It curved closely around the Senate District like a venomous snake coiling around prey. To the unpracticed eye, Urscru was nothing but a neon beehive, a formless smear of color and movement. But this was the real seat of Coruscanti power. Only here did the two extremes meet; the rich to play, the poor to enact a small revenge. Even as she darted through the lines outside theatres, bars, gambling halls, and brothels, she could see the hierarchy. She knew the glassy fear in the eyes of the exotic dancers behind their sinewy undulations and practiced come-hither expressions. Owners counted stacks of republican credits, spending a few moments with the only thing they loved, the thing that was death for them to keep. The Vigos strolled in their designer clothing with their entourages, deep in their facades of power, constantly glancing over their shoulders in case the serfs decided to try and overthrow their feudal lords.

As her eyes adjusted she began to see other beings, forms darting quickly through the lighted areas and then huddling together in the dim corners. These were the members of the lowest caste, those who used the light and the crowd as cover as they worked the streets in near invisibility; Small time crooks, drug dealers, nearly all of them under sixteen.

They learned first to find a place where no one wanted to catch them enough to go. She wondered where each small shadow's particular alley was, leading to a particular stairwell or turbolift, taking them down to their small corners of the under levels. Sometimes they died in those hideouts. If local law enforcement decided that a section of the under levels was dangerous enough, they would close it up with blast doors to be forgotten. Dozens could suffocate in the blackness, criminal and innocent alike, clawing and fighting one another for air.

She found that she had not the talent for running that she once did. Even here in the place where she had been born, the place that had seemed once to embrace her as its own, she could feel her pursuer gaining on her. The eyes around her were hostile as they noted her dressed hair and finely tailored clothing. She did not belong here. She belonged on the upper levels in the sunshine, among the elite. From the way people and objects blocked her path, it seemed as if the city was trying to spit her back out again.

She increased her speed, making for the alley she knew better than any. She'd been a human compass as a child, memorizing every route through the streets, every hazard in every path. Running through an archway and down a flight of stairs, she still remembered the grate on the right where the tentacles of a mutated Coruscanti beast reached through to grab whatever passed. She navigated the eager throngs around a knife fight with the care born of experience. As her cloak began to become splashed with mud and her hair came down, the locals noticed her less. She rounded a corner and hurried down a second stairwell.

Her steps echoed from damp permacrete walls streaked with green luminescent mold. The air was stale, and she splashed through the runoff of sewers. The crowds had thinned to only one or two walking along slowly, with dark cloaks pulled close about their faces. The only light came from the mold and the strings of sickly yellow bulbs high up on the walls. Occasionally her feet disturbed the piles of refuse on either side and the garbage shifted, revealing a hand, a foot, or even the gleaming, resentful eyes of beings who had buried themselves there for a few moments of undisturbed sleep, maybe hoping to never wake.

Two levels down from the surface. If she could only reach the turbolift she could get to the little nest she'd made amongst the sewer lines. Only a little further and she could get home.

_But…this isn't my home anymore._

Her steps slowed, and she saw in the same moment that the turbolift was covered with a barrier. Her hesitation was just long enough for the strong hand to close around her wrist. She struggled, but though the grip was not painful, it was firm. She jerked away and felt the sharp, tearing agony of her partially healed wound opening, preventing any further hope of escape.

Gasping, she collapsed to the pavement, holding her side as she attempted to catch her breath. Cloudy water soaked through the knees of her cloak. _Even the city rejects me now, _she thought. _Now I'm neither civilized nor savage._

"This is in danger of becoming a rather tiresome cliché, is it not?"

Sabe had almost forgotten who she was running from. She all but growled down at the pavement, still too breathless and pained to speak.

"It is you," He looked at her with shuttered grey eyes. "Isn't it?"

Sabe favored him with a droll look.

"Well, obviously you are no Queen."

"Obviously," Sabe muttered. She felt like crying. She was hurting, she was filthy, and there was no escape, no tunnels left to crawl in, no mask to hide behind. Her hood could not shadow her face enough.

"And which one is…" Obi-Wan trailed off, gesturing in the general direction of the Senate building.

Sabe lifted an eyebrow at him. A look of abject horror crossed his face. "That's right," she said. "Master Jinn allowed the Queen of Naboo to accompany him to Mos Espa."

"Force," he murmured. He massaged his forehead with two fingers, and then offered her a hand as she tried to stand. "How have you come here?"

Sabe ignored his hand and struggled to her feet. "I suppose the Council didn't think I'd make much of a farmer."

He winced.

"I'm surprised Qui-Gon did not tell you," she said, unable to disguise the little falter in her voice when she repeated the Master's name.

"They told me nothing," Obi-Wan said. "Only that you were not to be trained."

They stared at one another, both having run out of things to say. A decade stretched between them, a yawning gap nearly impossible to bridge. His eyes flared with subtle power, and she felt the faint brush of his examining consciousness. She rallied her defenses against it, pushing it off like a hand from her shoulder. Obi-Wan's jaw tightened. "Your methods have not changed," he observed.

Sabe's eyes narrowed.

"And you still shield to deceive."

"To protect a Queen," She said defiantly.

"You were warned never to consciously use your abilities," Obi Wan said. " Unguided you are extremely vulnerable."

"If the Council was so concerned," Sabe said acidly. "Why was I sent away at all?"

Obi-Wan's face flickered with something like understanding. Sabe blinked back tears of rage. Ten years had made no difference at all. Impatiently she rubbed at her eyes with the heels of both hands.

"It isn't only for her that you fear," he said quietly.

"I fear nothing," Sabe hissed.

He raised his head. "Then why run?"

Sabe tried to move past him, but he sidestepped, barring her way. "Sabe," he said, sounding as if he were testing the word to see if it fit. "Why have you run here to escape _me_? Why lose yourself in this hell again?"

"This is who I am," She bit out. "This is all I ever can be. Isn't that what the council thought? What all of you thought?"

"No, Sabe," He said softly. "You are the only one who ever thought that."

She pushed past him, her shoulder connecting with his, her wound pulling.

"You cannot continue to wander the lower levels alone," he said, reaching for her.

Sabe remembered the Tusken raiders, watching their alien ship invade their territory. Suddenly she knew exactly how they must have felt. "You know I know the way back."

She just caught his quiet reply as she walked away. "No, I don't."

* * *

It was a long way back to the senate district, but she reached 500 Republica at last, and endured the confused looks of the staff and residents as she made her way up to the correct floor with muddy robes and disheveled hair. She released a breath she hadn't remembered holding when she saw the door to Amidala's quarters. Now, at last, she could crawl into the cool dark quiet away from her flight, away from everything. She could clean herself up and be alone for just a little while. Eventually she would remember who she was and that she didn't have to hide out in the under levels anymore. Hopefully that would be before the others returned. 

She was so intent on her purpose that she nearly walked into the boy sitting on the floor just beside the door.

"Anakin!" She exclaimed, just managing not to fall on him.

He glanced up, and his face brightened. But then he looked more closely and looked morose again. "Who are you?"

"Forgive me….Padme has told me so much about you that I'd forgotten we hadn't been properly introduced." She'd grown so accustomed to spinning illusions that the lies came easily now, even to children. Fighting her thoughts, she extended a hand. "I am Sabe, another of the Queen's handmaidens."

Anakin shook her hand solemnly. "I thought you were Padme. You look an awful lot like her."

"You'd be surprised how often I'm mistaken for her," Sabe murmured. She studied the boy thoughtfully. Perhaps it was only that Padme had described his living conditions in Tatooine so vividly. Or maybe it was just her mood. But his face was familiar, with the starkness of a child who had lived life in adherence to necessity rather than whimsy. "Why are you sitting out here all by yourself?"

"I was waiting for Padme," the boy said mournfully. "I thought if I just waited long enough, she would come back."

Sabe nodded and knelt beside him, tucking her cloak around her. It was too bad Padme felt she could not reveal herself to him. But where he was headed, it would not help him to have such an attachment. "I'm sorry you missed her. I will see to it that she knows you were here."

"I will never see her again," Anakin said softly.

"That may not be true," Sabe said. "No one knows what paths have been laid before them."

Anakin peered at her curiously. "You sound like Master Qui-Gon."

Sabe swallowed, her heart twisting in her chest. "I suppose I…shall have to take that as a complement."

Anakin nodded. "He is a nice man. But Obi-Wan is very grumpy."

Sabe sighed, leaning her head back against the wall behind her. She absorbed the pure, guieless energy emanating from the small boy. His power was unrestrained and unorganized like an erratic pulse, but it was immense. She felt herself calming. "Obi-Wan is a different kind of man. They balance one another, he and Qui-Gon."

Anakin thought for a moment. "Are you friends with them?"

"I…" she had made two slips of the tongue in five minutes. "I am familiar with them by acquaintance and reputation."

She needed to extricate herself from this conversation. She stood up, and realized she needed anesthetic and bacta, too. "Well, I must see to my duties. It was very nice to meet you, Anakin."

"It was nice meeting you," He too got to his feet and began to shuffle away with slow steps. But then he hesitated and looked back. "Sabe?"

"Yes?"

"Why were you not on the ship I came over on?"

Sabe's throat went dry. Padme had warned her of Anakin's acuity, and she should have expected it from someone so powerful. "I had other duties at that time." Perhaps if she was careful not to lie overtly, he would not sense the deception.

"Oh," He said nonchalantly. Then he waved and moved off down the hall. Sabe exhaled.

* * *

"Mesa wonder, why da guds invent pain?" 

Sabe raised her eyes. She could see nothing of the Queen except a silhouette against the window. Her back was to Sabe, and the Coruscanti skyline made a corona around her, almost swallowing her up. She hadn't bothered to turn on the room lights when she'd finally returned from the senate hearing. Sabe could sense her thoughts as black as the dress she wore.

"To motivate us, I imagine," Amidala finally answered the Gungun.

"Yousa tinken yousa people ganna die?" Jar Jar asked.

"I don't know," Amidala said.

"Gunguns ganna get pasted too, eh?"

"I hope not," Amidala replied. It was times like these, with her face obscured and her voice monotone that Sabe could almost read her mind. _Eirtae believes we are entirely different, but we are not, are we Padme?_ The fingers of one of Sabe's hands reached reflexively in Amidala's direction. When she was so completely consumed by the persona of the Queen, like right now, it seemed Padme would never make it out again.

Suddenly Jar Jar squared his shoulders with a pride Sabe hadn't thought him capable of. "Gunguns don die without a fight. Wesa warriors. Wesa gotta grand army." He looked curiously at the Queen. " Dat why you no liken us, metinks."

Knowing Padme's mind almost as well as her own, Sabe could almost see the wheels beginning to turn. _You wretched Gungun, _she thought uncharitably, foreseeing where this was headed.

The door opened, and Captain Panaka walked into the room with his cap in his hand. Amidala turned at the sound. He seemed quite pleased. "Your highness, Senator Palpatine has been nominated to succeed Valorum as Supreme Chancellor."

The Queen's gaze jerked to Palpatine, who was close behind him. His face was wreathed with smiles. "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."

_Surprise, indeed, _Sabe thought viciously.She saw the same thought forming on Amidala's face as the Queen listened to the Senator with eyes like two chips of black ice. "Who else was nominated?"

"Bail Antilles of Alderaan and Ainlee Teem of Malastare," Captain Panaka said.

"I feel confident our situation will create a strong sympathy vote for us." Palpatine said, and his voice seemed to become almost hungry. "I will be Chancellor, I promise you."

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator, there will be nothing left of our cities, our people, our way of life." Amidala said abruptly.

"I understand your concern, your majesty. Unfortunately the Federation has possession of our planet. The law is in their favor."

Amidala turned back toward the window, and to Jar Jar. Again she was but a stark black outline against the lights of the city. "Senator," she said in a low tone. "This is your arena. I feel I must return to mine."

Sabe's heart sank, and she could not suppress the tiny groan that escaped her. Captain Panaka looked at her, and she saw her own dismay mirrored on his face.

The Queen turned on her heel and brushed past Palpatine. "I have decided to go back to Naboo."

"Go back! But your majesty, be realistic! They will force you to sign the treaty!"

Amidala might have brought all the Neimoidians trembling to their knees with the look she gave Senator Palpatine. "I will sign no treaty, Senator. My fate will be no different from that of our people. Captain!"

Captain Panaka jumped to attention. "Yes, your highness?"

"Ready my ship."

There was no chance to argue with her, only time to hurry to catch up as she swept from the room.

**A/N : I like to subtitle this chapter, "In Which Sabe becomes a little histrionic." I really struggled with this one, trying to figure out how a kid with a past like hers would react when it suddenly came roaring back. And I was listening to the darkest music I could find while I worked on it, including such greats as Tool's "Aenima". I hope it isn't _too _over the top as a result ;-). **

**Emerald Tiara : Well, there is your confrontation. Hope it met your expectations :-)**

**Calixa Inflixa : I really appreciate that. Your reviews always make me blush :-). But seriously, I like to think that even in a time when flight is an everyday thing, people can still see the wonder of it.  
**

** Sweet Christabel : How cool that you are reading and commenting! I've been following "Fair Maiden, Shining Knight" for a while now. Glad you like :-)**

**Greenteandhoney : Thanks for reading. I've still got a few plot bunnies hopping around that will get their day on the page ;-)**


	9. Spectrum

**Chapter Eight: Spectrum**

_Coruscant Orbit_

_20:34 CT_

"The moment we land the Federation will arrest you, and force you to sign the treaty," Captain Panaka said.

They were back in the blank neutrality of the receiving chamber. And a battle of wills was raging.

"I agree," Qui-Gon said. "I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish by this."

"I'm going to take back what's ours," Amidala said stoically.

Captain Panaka seemed to be on the edge of his tolerance. "There are only twelve of us, your majesty." Sabe could only admire his nerve when he brought up what had been a bone of contention between him and Amidala since the beginning of her reign. "We have no army."

"And I cannot fight a war for you, Your Highness," Qui-Gon added. "Only protect you."

_I? _So far, Sabe had succeeded in completely avoiding looking at Obi-Wan. But now, with his attention focused elsewhere, she had time to notice that he and Qui-Gon stood farther apart than usual, a silent tension simmering between them. Then his eyes drifted back to her and remained there, and she jerked her focus back to the Queen.

"Jar Jar Binks," Amidala said imperiously to the Gungun who she'd specially requested to attend the briefing.

He had been slouching behind the Jedi with a dreamy, distracted look on his face, but now he straightened and looked around as if there was some one else by that name aboard. "Mesa, Your Highness?"

Amidala's lips curved. "Yes. I need your help."

The Gungun might not have been more shocked if gold began raining from the roof of the chamber. "Why for?"

"I need to request an audience with your ruler, Boss Nass. I must ask you to deliver this request on my behalf."

"My no tinkin'.." Jar Jar began doubtfully, but received a sharp elbow in the side from Obi-Wan. "Owwie!"

"If we are to survive this invasion, we will have to stand together," Amidala said. "I _must _address him."

"Boss Nass take no stockin in Naboo," Jar Jar warned. He scratched one of his long ears. "And makin' big ouchie for me, my tinkin'."

"Then we must do our best to convince him otherwise. Captain, how long will it take us to reach the northern banks of Lake Paonga?" Amidala asked.

"About two days, Your Highness," He said reluctantly. "But if you really cannot be dissuaded I would advise landing on the southern banks, where we won't be so quickly detected."

"And Jar Jar can still readily access the Gungun city, even from that side," Obi-Wan said, giving Jar Jar a dire look. The tall Gungun wilted.

"Very well," Amidala said. "Then we will adjourn. There is much to prepare for."

Captain Panaka made for the door, shaking his head slightly. The Jedi bowed and turned to follow him. Jar Jar lingered with an expression of extreme consternation, but Obi-Wan reached out and guided him with a firmer hand than was strictly necessary. It appeared that if the Gungan continued to be hesitant about complying with the Queen's wishes, he would be subject to some strong persuasion.

The Queen remained seated, and Sabe stayed in her own place on her left, her hands in fists beneath the sleeves of her robe. Rabe looked sidelong at the two of them nervously.

"Go on, Rabe, and update Eirtae. We will be along," Amidala said.

Rabe lifted a shoulder and turned to go. The two of them heard the door hiss shut.

"You can't be serious, Padme," Sabe murmured.

The Queen would not look at her. Her posture in the throne was as straight and sharp as the blade of Sabe's dagger. "Amidala."

"No!" Sabe jerked back her hood and came around to the front of the throne. "Forget for a moment that you are Queen and I am subject. Look on your friend. I cannot—"

"Don't push me now, Sabe," Padme said warningly.

"—Sit here while you try your damndest to get yourself killed and abandon our only recourse!" Sabe finished.

"Recourse? You heard Senator Palpatine!" Padme retorted.

"Yes, Senator Palpatine," Sabe said sarcastically. "He plucks at your heart strings and gets exactly what he wants, doesn't he?"

Padme's hands gripped the arms of her throne until her knuckles blanched.

"The Gunguns have not cooperated with us for over a century."

Padme spoke slowly, as if she was talking to a small and dim-witted child. "They will be made to see that our survival depends on cooperation."

"Well, Boss Nass was not made their ruler on the strength of his logic," Sabe returned. "And even if they did agree, their weapons are primitive next to the Federation's."

Padme looked away, and Sabe saw that this at least had occurred to her. She pressed the point. "It would be a bloodbath, Padme. You've too calculating a mind not to see it."

"We must at least make an attempt," Padme said, her voice rising. "We cannot give up and hide in 500 Republica. This is duty…" She directed steely eyes back at Sabe. "…this is sacrifice. Why can't you of all people understand that?"

"Why can't you understand that reality is how it is, not how you would like it to be?" Sabe cried desperately.

Padme sprang to her feet. "If you are so uncertain in your duty, perhaps you should not act as decoy at all."

Sabe's breath left in her in a rush. Padme might as well have struck her. She found her voice with some difficulty. "I…I am not uncertain in _my _duty. Are we here to protect you or are we not?"

"Yes, to protect me. And not to question my authority at every opportunity," Padme snapped, striding past her. Sabe remained frozen in front of the empty throne.

* * *

The two-day journey was the longest of Sabe's life. She had thought the trip from Tatooine to Coruscant was trying, but at least then the only thing dogging her steps was fear of being caught in the disguise, and boredom. It would have been enough that they were fast heading toward what seemed to her like a suicide mission. But to make it worse, there were few safe places on the Royal Starship left for her to go. Padme only addressed her with as many words as were absolutely necessary, and in the corridors of the ship there was always the possibility that she would run into Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon.

Honestly, Sabe was unsure if Obi-Wan had shared his discovery with his Master. That Qui-Gon treated her with the same deference as the other handmaidens made her suspect he had not. If Obi-Wan had kept his knowledge to himself it would be very strange, and strange that Qui-Gon should be so distracted. She wondered if the Queen's quarters was not the only one thick with tension.

But oddly enough, Eirtae was not openly hostile for once. Sabe couldn't help wondering why not. She thought Eirtae could easily surmise from Padme's mood that she had finally overstepped herself completely. Rabe was as pleasant as ever, and Anakin was at his most charming. Open and innocent and on a great adventure, the boy seemed to believe that everyone aboard were his new best friends. In the force he was like a small supernova, and Sabe imagined it was all Qui-Gon could do to keep him in check. And it seemed that Obi-Wan's conservative nature brought his worst streak of mischief into the light.

Sabe bent over the sink in the refresher attached to the Queen's Quarters as Rabe rubbed temporary dye into her hair. It was a necessity for the Queen's more revealing battle dress, and Sabe would have made it permanent if Rabe had let her. She watched in the mirror with relief as her hair was turned from red to brown.

Despite their argument, an hour previously Padme had given her rather abrupt instructions on how she was to proceed as decoy the following day. Of course, it was never too late for Padme to decide she couldn't handle the responsibility of negotiating with Boss Nass.

"I guess tomorrow is the turning point," Eirtae said from where she watched, sitting on a stool against the wall.

"If there is to be one," Sabe muttered into the sink. She squeezed her eyes shut as Rabe turned on the water and the freezing rivulets poured down, feeling even colder on her burning cheeks. A slight fever had overtaken her shortly after they left Coruscant. She could only hope Rabe wouldn't notice, since she didn't particularly feel like explaining how she'd aggravated her wound.

"You don't think the Gunguns will help us?" Rabe asked.

Sabe straightened, wrapping her hair in a towel. "Forget I said anything. My feelings shouldn't come into it."

"That's a pretty strong admission coming from you," Eirtae observed wryly.

Sabe rolled her eyes at her, and Eirtae shrugged rather sheepishly.

Rabe began pulling a comb through Sabe's wet, tangled hair. "You know, it's a shame you have to cover this up so much. You have such a lovely natural color."

"I hate it," Sabe said.

"Why?" Rabe asked in surprise.

"It just makes the job more complicated," Sabe answered, adding in a low voice, "And I don't know if you've noticed, but there aren't many redheads in Theed."

"So?"

"So when I was in the Academy, people could take one look at me and know I was from somewhere else," Sabe said.

"There's no shame in being from Coruscant," Eirtae said. "Most people would brag about it. It's the cultural center of the Galaxy."

"Not my neighborhood," Sabe murmured, looking into the mirror. She frowned at her pale, damp reflection. All it told her was that she was becoming less and less like Padme as she aged. Her face was thinner, her nose longer, her lips not as full, her eyes deeper set. Padme was often praised as being the comeliest girl in Theed. Sabe felt like a poor approximation.

Rabe's fingers brushed her forehead as she reached to pull the comb through the front strands of her hair. "My goodness Sabe, you're burning up! Do you feel alright?"

"Your hands are just cold," Sabe said with forced lightness, pulling away.

"You know, you look a little flushed too. You shouldn't be marching into battle if you are sick," Rabe said.

"I'm fine," Sabe said more forcefully. "Really, Rabe. You can take the girl out of the healing school, but you can't take the healing school out of the girl, can you?"

Rabe chuckled and finished combing her hair. She stepped back. "There. You are the perfect doppelganger again."

Sabe snorted. Now _there _was a good word for it.

* * *

She walked into the kitchen with her hair still damp beneath her hood to discover Anakin standing on a stool at the sink, his face alight with devilish glee. "Anakin?"

He whirled around, nearly falling. "Oh, it's just you, Sabe," he breathed.

"What in the Republic are you doing?" Sabe asked suspiciously, peering into the sink. All she could see was a tangle of pink cloth.

His bright blue eyes sparkled, and he leaned in, whispering in her ear. He gestured toward the bottle on the counter. "Nebula pink!" he finished, dissolving into giggles.

Sabe's hand flew to her mouth as she blushed more deeply than she thought she ever had. "Anakin…!" She choked.

He chortled, again nearly falling from his stool. "The whole trip! I got every one, so there's no choice! He'll have to…" He gasped, tears running down his cheeks. "…fight in them!"

Sabe closed her eyes, steadying herself and avoiding the picture that Anakin was painting so vividly. "Anakin," she began, quite reasonably given her state of mind. "You are going to get into _a lot _of trouble."

"Nah," Anakin said nonchalantly. "Obi-Wan won't tell. He and Qui-Gon haven't been talking much."

Sabe opened her eyes. "Why not?"

Anakin squirmed, tossing the bottle of dye into the disposal chute. "I think…because of me. Obi-Wan doesn't like me."

"I see," Sabe looked back at the full sink. "Is that why you are dying his—" she swallowed. "--undergarments?"

Anakin looked at his shoes.

"Ani…" Sabe sighed, squatting in front of him and taking his hands. If only she could tell him how well she understood. "You must know that you are a special case. I gather that Qui-Gon is breaking many rules by bringing you with him."

"I know," Anakin said, his face darkening. "The Council…they didn't like me either."

"No, it isn't that," Sabe said, remembering the circle of dispassionate faces in the low light of the chambers in Coruscant. "Being a Jedi is very demanding, and a great responsibility. They can't allow just anyone to undertake it." Her voice dropped. "Some couldn't handle it, even if they wanted to." 

"I can do it," Anakin protested. "Why doesn't anyone believe that I can do it?"

Sabe smiled. "I believe you. But I also believe that in his own way…Obi-Wan is trying to protect you and Qui-Gon."

Anakin looked at her doubtfully. "Do you really think so?"

Sabe nodded. "Perhaps you should go easy on him."

Anakin looked guiltily at the pile of soaking pink cloth. "Too late," he observed.

Sabe bit her lip, but a giggle escaped. "Ah…perhaps if you admitted your wrong and apologized nicely?"

Anakin snorted.

"I think even Obi-Wan would have to admit that it would be a very Jedi-like thing to do," Sabe persuaded.

He considered her words, and his face brightened. His shoulders straightened, and he seemed ready to march off and make his brave admission. But just then a heated voice rose from somewhere outside the kitchen.

"Anakin!"

Anakin's face crumpled into a comical grimace. Before Sabe could stop him he had already scampered out of the kitchen through the hold-side door. And before she herself could beat a hasty departure, the corridor-side door opened. Obi-Wan's tall frame filled the doorway, leaving no room for escape.

His eyes rested instantly on the sink full of cloth. Then they moved to Sabe. Her heart sinking into her shoe tops, Sabe trumped all of her previous efforts with the blush to end all blushes. "Umm…I…" She could not think of any explanation that would make this look better. Her courage failing, she pointed shakily toward the door Anakin had used. "He went that way."

Obi-Wan's mouth set into a thin line as he turned to follow. She heard him mutter several shocking oaths as he passed, followed by, "When I lay hands on him, Force forgive me, I'll—"

But he was gone before she could hear what fate awaited the errant boy.

"Sorry Anakin," Sabe mumbled, slipping into the corridor.

* * *

Space was always cold, dark, and hostile. There was a reason people sought the fastest routes through it. But the darkness outside the hold windows was not absolute. Sabe stood in the aft hold, her fingers pressed to the chilled transparisteel of the window. Stars and planets streaked by, their shapes contorted by light speed. Though there was no way to distinguish it, Sabe imagined Naboo changing from a dim, red dot to a large, blue sphere.

What would they find there? Would anyone be left alive? No one could say for certain. They had not had word from Naboo since they'd left Tatooine, though Padme had attempted to make contact numerous times. The Trade Federation had control of all transmissions entering and leaving Naboo airspace. It appeared that the only reason Governor Bibble had been able to get through was that they had allowed him to, to find a signal and give chase with that dark creature. Sabe shivered. She had avoided meditation since the incident in Tatooine. Nothing she'd ever perceived had brought her closer to the inner, monstrous part of herself, the part she'd thought she'd left in the under levels a decade ago.

"There are six hours left."

Sabe gasped and whirled around. Qui-Gon stood behind her with a benign smile on his face. "I thought you might be wondering."

She had not had many occasions to exchange more than one or two words with Qui-Gon. Her heart pounding, she tried to think of a reply.

"Is your Queen prepared for what's to come?" He asked.

"I hardly know," Sabe murmured. "She would not tell me, either way."

"Are you?"

Sabe could do nothing more than shrug.

He joined her at the window, turning his ancient gaze to the outside. She had never been able to guess how old Qui-Gon was, but she had heard that he looked far younger than his years. He was not exactly a handsome man, but his face was a noble one with its pronounced brow, Roman nose, and firm jaw. He radiated quiet dynamism and some said, defiance. But anyone who looked into his grey eyes could clearly see the vast intelligence and experience there.

"I am not certain _I _am prepared," He admitted. "I think of those I am responsible for, and I sometimes falter. I think of my padawan and my ward, and I loathe the idea of leading them into battle."

Sabe wondered why he felt the need to confess this to a simple handmaiden. Then she began to become aware of an outside consciousness infringing upon hers, not forcing or pushing in any way, but merely hovering just on the edge of her perception. It was him, examining whatever she was unwillingly projecting. Stiffening, she focused her thoughts on nothingness, on the space outside, on smoke, on reflections in mirrors, and on everything insubstantial. She had been doing it since childhood, once to confuse the people she stole from, and later to make people's minds more receptive to her impersonation of the Queen. But she soon realized she had neither the skill nor the true desire to shield herself against Qui-Gon. His intentions were entirely free of malice or self-interest. His was the watchful attitude of a guardian.

"Jedi are not truly taught to be fearless," he said. "Only to relinquish the hold of fear over their actions."

"I'm not afraid of fighting, Master Jinn," Sabe muttered.

"I know."

Sabe turned, steeling herself for the questions bound to follow his simple admission. It was impossible now that he had not recognized her.

She found herself alone in the hold again.

* * *

**A/ N : You know, at first I had a real moral dilemma with the scene with Anakin and Obi-Wan in the kitchen. I thought to myself, "Obi-Wan is a very dignified and almost iconic figure. It's in really poor taste to allow his underwear to be dyed." And then I wondered, "Do Jedi even wear underwear?" But I decided that in my world, they do. And in my world, when you see him doing all those acrobatics toward the end, just think; lavender skivvies.  
**  



	10. Unwritten

**Chapter Nine: Unwritten**

_Paonga Swamps, Naboo_

_20:32 CT_

Their steps were unaccountably loud over the fallen leaves and brush of the quiet forest floor, and it seemed that the very trees themselves had eyes, watching resentfully as they passed.

They had started out on the more familiar southern banks of Lake Paonga. But when Jar Jar Binks had surfaced from the lake after swimming to Otoh Gunga, he'd told them that the city was deserted. Now he claimed he was taking them to a hidden Gungan sanctuary, but as they worked their way deeper and deeper into thick swampy forest passing trees that must have been hundreds of years old, Sabe felt that they must be infringing upon virgin territory. It was unlikely that any human had ventured this far, at least. The brush grew thicker with every step, vines catching her dragging feet and thorns catching at the material of her battle dress. Mud six inches deep in places sucked at their boots. The air was thick with moisture and the sickly-sweet scent of decay.

Her head swam. She had nearly dragged herself from bed that morning, her limbs clumsy and leaden. She'd felt so ill that she'd nearly told Padme she could not act in her stead today. But then the Queen's cold words came back to her.

"_If you are so uncertain in your duty, perhaps you should not act as decoy at all."_

She'd gone to great lengths ever since to conceal wracking chills from Rabe. But she had begun to feel progressively worse, and now she was beginning to hallucinate. She could swear there were grey and orange shadows moving amidst the bushes…

As they rounded a huge tree trunk criss-crossed with inch-thick vines and suddenly faced a bewhiskered Gungan riding a kaadu, Sabe realized she had not been hallucinating. The Gungan made a low warble in his throat and the orange and grey shadows took shape and moved into the light. Within a moment there were thirty or more additional Gungans standing with him.

They were as different from Jar Jar as could be possible. Their movements were controlled and smooth, their attitudes those of hardened warriors. Muscles rippled beneath their rubbery amphibious skins, and their golden eyes were predatory. Not all were males. From what little she knew of Gungan culture, Sabe recognized the distinctive clothing and tied-back ears of more than one sharp-eyed female. There was even a small number of young, and she noticed that the adults were careful to position themselves between the outsiders and the small figures lingering in the dimness of the underbrush.

The Gungan said nothing, but leveled his spear at a spot somewhere between Sabe's eyes. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan moved in front of her, dragging Jar Jar with them and keeping their hands on the hilts of their lightsabers.

"Binks!" The Gungan exclaimed. "Noah gain!—"

"Ah, heyo-dalee, Captain Tarpals," Jar Jar said sheepishly, waving. Obi-Wan elbowed him. Jar Jar cleared his throat and said more confidently. "We comen to see da boss."

The Gungan leaned down from his kaadu, his eyes narrowing menacingly. "Ouch time, Binks," His golden eyes flickered over the rest of them. "Ouch time for all-n youse."

Taking a breath to quiet her screaming nerves, Sabe drew herself up an inch or two. It was time to take command of the situation. "I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo," she said in court accent. "I seek an audience with Boss Nass."

"Outlanders," the Gungan hissed. "Yousa come beggin' now da machineeks come."

Sabe could only guess that he was referring to the droids. She realized that she was as guilty of prejudice as Rabe, who had never made a secret of her contempt for the Gungans. Sabe too had expected them all to be dimwitted and clumsy. She glanced at Padme. "The droid army poses a great threat to both our nations," Sabe continued. "It is vital that I speak with your leader."

The bewhiskered Gungan stared at her for a long moment. Sabe kept her chin up and returned his stare unflinchingly. At last he made a frustrated sound and turned his animal, making her understand with an abrupt movement of his spear that she was to follow. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon allowed her to pass, and she tried not to hesitate as she followed the Gungan to the ruined temple where Boss Nass held court.

As she approached, she became aware that the Gungan ruler was much bigger than she had imagined. Just one of his meaty hands was larger than her head. It was a lucky thing she was too giddy with fever to be much afraid. He stood on the knarled roots of a giant tree, among the stone ruins of what must have once been a vast temple. The roots he stood on curved around the carved stylized head of an ancient Gungan. The other Gungans followed the group of outlanders and then passed them to stand amidst the ruins themselves. They were all armed to the teeth with spears and blades. But Sabe did not see a single blaster. She relaxed somewhat. If things turned ugly, they at least had the upper hand in that regard.

"Jar Jar Binks," Boss Nass rumbled in a great voice that seemed to come from the ruins themselves. "Yousa payen dis time. Who's da uss-en others?"

It was difficult to understand his syntax at times, but the little poke in her side from Jar Jar let her know that it was her turn to speak. She stepped forward, her head spinning, and tried to make her voice as commanding as Boss Nass's in spite of her discomfort. "I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo. I come before you in peace."

She seemed to fail in her attempt. Boss Nass snorted contemptuously. "Naboo biggen. Yousa bringen da Mackineeks…Yousa all bombad." He gave a dismissive gesture with his huge hand. His golden eyes glittered threateningly. "Yousa all die'n, mesa tink."

Sabe felt Captain Panaka and the crew tense behind her, and saw Gungans on her right and left lower spears. The little speech she'd practiced in her head on the way here was not working. But she did not have the concentration to think up another so quickly. She was so tired… Closing her eyes briefly, she tried again. Her voice sounded frail even to her own ears. "We wish to form an alliance—"

"Your honor." Sabe's eyes snapped wide as she felt the restraining hand on her shoulder. Padme stepped in front of her and stood fearlessly before Boss Nass with her hands fisted at her sides.

"Whosa dis?" Boss Nass boomed.

"_I_ am Queen Amidala of the Naboo," Padme said. Sabe's heart sank as a murmur went up around her. Padme looked so small without elaborate gowns or headdresses, standing there before the huge king with every Gungan weapon pointed at her. Padme turned back to Sabe. "This is my decoy…my protection…" Her eyes softened. "My loyal bodyguard."

She approached the Gungan king without any sign of hesitation, continuing. "I am sorry for my deception, but it was necessary to protect myself. Although we do not always agree Your Honor, our two great societies have always lived in relative peace."

"Ah," Boss Nass rumbled. He seemed as thrown off balance by the sudden reversal as the rest of them.

"The trade federation has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build. If we do not act quickly, all will be lost forever. I ask you to help us. No…" Padme dropped to her knees. "I beg you to help us."

She glanced back at the rest of them. Sabe dropped immediately to her knees, followed by Captain Panaka and the crew. After a moment even the proud Jedi sank to their knees.

Padme turned back to Boss Nass. "We are your humble servants. Our fate is in your hands."

Boss Nass looked flabbergasted, his heavy jowls practically quivering. Sabe tried to see Padme as he did, an unimpressive slip of a girl who claimed to represent the society he had thought of as powerful and condescending. It was no surprise when he began to laugh. But it was a guileless laugh that rang in the treetops. "Yousa no tinken yousa greater den da Gungans?"

Padme shook her head.

Boss Nass's belly shook with his mirth. "Mesa like dis. Maybe…" He leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "Wesa bein friends."

Padme's face broke into a wide grin. She jumped to her feet and dashed forward to shake the Gungan's hand. Everyone else looked at one another dazedly, and then laughed in relief. Sabe shook her head, astounded. A fourteen-year-old girl had just done what dozens of Naboovian rulers could not. She had just bridged a two hundred-year-old gap. Sabe laughed disbelievingly, and moved to stand from her knees.

It was then that her head seemed to spin on her shoulders. The world tilted crazily, and a red haze blurred the edges of her vision. Beside her, she heard Rabe's voice. "Sabe! Are you all right?" But she could not reply. Swaying on her feet, she sank back toward the ground.

Before she could get there someone's arm wrapped around her waist, steadying her. She turned her head weakly.

It was Obi-Wan. He took one look at the unnatural color in her cheeks and slipped an arm beneath her knees, lifting her as easily as a child.

She pushed against him weakly. "Let me go!"

"Be still," He commanded abruptly, but his hold was gentle. "You are very ill. You should not have made this march with us."

She still thought of fighting him off, but she lacked the strength or will. Reluctancly she relaxed into his cradling arms and soothing body heat. He left the others and carried her toward a nearby grove of trees with a patch of dry grass beneath them, carefully deposited her before one of them so she could lean against it. As he did the light dressing around her wound shifted and she squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened, pressing her hand to her side. Her teeth chattered, and he shed his robe, wrapping it snugly around her shoulders.

Padme appeared at his side. "What's wrong?"

"That wound you acquired in Tatooine," Obi-Wan said. "Let us see it."

"It's just a scratch," Sabe whispered.

"Don't be a stubborn, Sabe," Padme said sternly and dropped beside her, helping her to remove the outer coat of the battle dress. Sabe reflected that this would be humiliating if she'd been in any shape to care. But as Obi-Wan lifted the edge of the camisole she wore beneath and began plucking at the tape holding her dressing in place, all she could think about was the pain.

He finally got the dressing off. Padme gasped, and even Obi-Wan's face paled a little. Sabe looked and immediately wished she hadn't. The gauze dressing was stained with blood and pus and the wound itself was oozy with angry red streaks radiating from it. She was beginning to get the feeling that she had pushed it too far this time.

"What on earth were you thinking coming here with a wound like that—" Padme began.

But Obi-Wan raised his hand to silence her. "Are there medics with us?" He asked her tensely.

"No," Padme said. "They were all left behind in Theed. Can you not treat the wound?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "My healing abilities are tenuous at best. This is beyond my skill."

"All I need is a new bacta patch," Sabe mumbled.

"You need stitches and intravenous antibiotics," Obi-Wan retorted. "And until you get them you will remain ill."

"I will tend to her."

They all turned in surprise at the quiet voice. Qui-Gon stood watching them, his arms folded across his chest. "After all," he said with a smile. "I have tended to her cuts and scrapes before."

"This is hardly a scrape, Master Jinn," Padme said, her hand resting protectively on Sabe's shoulder.

"Well, I do not pretend to be a career healer, your highness. But it would not be the first infected wound I have tended in a field of battle," Qui-Gon replied calmly.

Padme looked doubtful, but glanced at Sabe for her approval. Sabe nodded. Padme and Obi-Wan withdrew to give him space to work. Kneeling, Qui-Gon removed a small case from his belt and bent to lift her camisole again, taking care to preserve her modesty. His touch was delicate as he probed the wound. Sabe hissed through her teeth and he frowned.

"You have let this go too long, youngling," he said.

Sabe managed to give him an exasperated look despite her near delirium.

He chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. I am sure your Queen will give you a thorough education on your foolishness later."

Reaching into his case he brought out two transparisteel vials, a few extra bandages, and bacta. Sabe looked at the vials curiously. One looked to be full of sand, and the other was three-quarters full of a clear substance.

"A quick-clotting agent, and a medical adhesive," Qui-Gon explained.

"You're going to glue me together?" Sabe asked nervously.

"A temporary solution, but a strong one. I have seen many a Jedi continue to fight with larger wounds after they were treated," Qui-Gon said.

He examined her wound one final time and looked at her closely. "But it is a bit caustic. It can be quite painful, and I have no anesthetic."

"I don't care," Sabe said with more bravado than she felt. She tried not to think about the Jedi's ludicrous pain tolerance, about the fact that if they admitted something was painful, it was probably agonizing. "Just do it."

At the first touch of the adhesive on her skin, she had to choke back a scream. It felt as if Qui-Gon was slowly and deliberately setting her on fire. He stopped immediately, shaking his head. "This will not do."

She felt the surge in the air as he turned grey eyes swirling with power toward her face and tapped her forehead with two fingers. Immediately, she fell into a trance.

* * *

_She awoke screaming. She was five years old again, and she had been dreaming of terrible things; Horrible dark shapes that seemed poised to overwhelm her, monsters with fangs dripping blood, writhing slick-scaled snakes encircling her feet, blast doors that no human power could open. She looked around wildly, not recognizing the living area of Qui-Gon's quarters. And she did not know whom to call for, for she had never had anyone to come when she called._

_There was a stir in the adjoining room, and a light flicked on. Then she heard a calm male voice. "Peace, my apprentice. I will see to her." Dimly, she saw Qui-Gon's tall form enter the room and approach the pallet where she lay._

_She scrambled back against the wall, more frightened of the living person than her nightmares. He hesitated a few feet away. When he stretched out his hand, she curled herself into the smallest defensive ball she could._

_To her relief, he did not touch her. He flicked his fingers lightly across her field of vision. "There is nothing to fear," he said softly._

_Normally it would not have worked. But in her weakened and sleepy state, she gave in to the gentle persuasion in his voice. "There is nothing to fear," she whispered. She felt warm, soothing energy flow from him and pool around her, relaxing her muscles and dissipating her terror. _

_He came forward then, and sat down beside her. Sabe curled into his side, whimpering, and he put an arm around her, chafing her shoulder lightly. In a few moments he began to hum, and a few moments after that he commenced to fully sing. Soon her eyelids began to grow heavy, and it was not long before she relaxed into a dreamless sleep, probably the deepest she would ever have._

_For years afterward she would recall the tune he had chosen. Her home world was a harsh place, and had almost no soft tunes like that. It was perfect that Qui-Gon would be one of the few who knew one. Sometimes, even years later, if she could not sleep and dark thoughts and anxieties threatened to overwhelm her, she would hum that tune to herself and her mind would soon quiet. It was his gift to her, a particularly rare and precious one; a Coruscanti lullabye._

_

* * *

_

Sabe opened her eyes slowly. Her discomfort was diminished, and she looked up to see Qui-Gon putting away his supplies. It was dusk now, and she could see the others nearby, talking quietly around campfires. Her hand went automatically to her side, where she found her wound neatly bandaged beneath her clothing. "That was—"

"A force illusion," Qui-Gon tucked the medicinal packet back into his cloak.

"You made that?" Sabe asked in surprise.

"No. You did," he said matter-of-factly. "I simply took hold of one of your pleasanter memories."

Sabe took a deep breath, pleased to see that she could do so with little fear of her pain. "I had almost forgotten," she admitted.

"I had not."

She raised her head. The stern mask he so often wore was gone, replaced by a look of fondness. "I have often hoped our paths would cross again."

Something hard, little, and cold within her split, a defense mechanism she had not even known existed. She inhaled shakily, her throat tight. Before she could stop them, tears were hanging from her lashes. "Master…" she breathed, and Qui-Gon smiled. She inhaled and continued. "I…I'm sorry."

He looked surprised, and waited for her explanation.

"At the temple…I…failed you. And then," The tears were sliding down her cheeks now. "I…ran away. I thought you would care nothing for me after my rejection, so I didn't want to see you again."

His grey eyes were warm. "There was only one lesson I ever wanted to teach you. That, regardless of where you came from, your future is still unwritten. Have you learned it now?"

Sabe's focus drifted to Padme, who was sitting by one of the fires with a group of Gungans and Obi-Wan and Anakin. As she watched, a very young Gungan crept up into the young Queen's lap, and she laughed and put her arms around it. "I suppose I have," Sabe said quietly.

Qui-Gon leaned forward and flicked a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "Then you have done very well for yourself, youngling."

With that, he stood and moved to join Anakin and Obi Wan by the fire, pausing mid-step to turn back toward her. "Rest now," he said gently.

Sabe nodded and lay down, folding herself within the blankets he'd tucked around her. Her last sight before she drifted off was Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme, their faces lit by flickering light as they talked animatedly around the fire.

* * *

**A/N : The idea of some Qui-Gon and Sabe interaction was interesting to me (not in a shipper sense, you sickos). But when I first got the idea for this story, the flashback was just about the first thing I wrote. As I've been working on this, it's evolved more into a coming of age thing than just a Sabewan. But I'll get them there, with some careful development.  
**

**Emerald Tiara : Hope I didn't give you nightmares or anything ;-)**

**GreenTeandHoney: Your screen name makes me thirsty. As for the sabewan, in this particular story I predict a lot of unresolved tension rather than outright declaration. A sequel is already being planned...  
**

**Cariel : Hee, pride cometh before a fall.**

**Until next time! **


	11. Antebellum

**Chapter Ten : Antebellum**

_Theed, Naboo_

_42 BBY_

_"Here is your room," the middle-aged woman said brightly, opening the door and gently guiding the small tawny-haired girl inside._

_The girl surveyed her surroundings. They had come to a small dorm dominated by a large window through which she could see the blue turrets of the palace and the majestic Theed waterfalls. There was a bed on each side of the room, and between them was a desk. A small dark-haired girl about Sabe's age sat there, bent over a book almost as large as she was. Her eyes were so close to the words that it looked as if she might get lost among the pages at any moment._

_"Padme," the woman said, and the girl turned to them. She had a charming, almost elfin face, with sparkling brown eyes. "This is Sabe. She is from Coruscant, and she will be your roommate."_

_Padme grinned and jumped up, sticking her hand in Sabe's face. Sabe drew back, alarmed. After a moment she gingerly took Padme's hand and shook it._

_The woman smiled. "Padme is an excellent roommate, and one of our finest students. I'll leave you two to get to know one another."_

_She turned to go, but paused, looking between the two of them. Her brows lifted. "You know…" she said slowly. "Aside from that fiery hair of yours, you and Padme resemble one another."_

_The two girls looked at each other more closely._

_"Well," the woman said briskly. "I will see you both a little later." The door slid shut behind her._

_Padme sat down on her bed, and Sabe swung her only bag from her shoulder to the floor. Padme's intense stare made her fidgety. She avoided the girl's eyes by busying herself with the contents of her bag._

_"I want to go to Coruscant one day," Padme said without preamble. "I want to be the Chancellor."_

_Sabe gaped at her._

_"Did you ever go to the senate building?" Padme asked amicably._

_Sabe shook her head._

_"It's huge!" Padme bounced to her feet and stretched her hands wide to demonstrate. "They have little ships for all the senators that float down when they want to talk. Our teacher let us ride in one. She said the senators are from all over the galaxy. They speak in all different languages. Some of them have bug-eyes, and some have antennae, and some have no eyes at all, and some have fur. And they all sit down in that huge room and talk things out." Padme described it as if this was the most remarkable thing she'd ever heard of._

_Sabe sank onto her bed, dizzy from the chatter._

_"What part of Coruscant are you from?"_

_Sabe put her hands on her knees and stared at the floor. "The temple sent me here," she said finally._

_Padme's face was the picture of awe. "The…Jedi Temple?"_

_Sabe shrugged._

_Padme leaned forward, her voice dropping conspiratorily. "So, you have powers?"_

_Sabe raised her head. The girl was obviously impressed. A new feeling flickered in her, one she had no experience of; pride. "Yes," she said. "They were going to train me, but then they said I should come here."_

_Padme rocked back on her heels. "Wow."_

_Sabe flushed._

_"What are Jedi like?" Padme asked, her curiosity insatiable._

_Sabe lay down, hugging her pillow, and began to tell her._

_

* * *

_

_Paonga Swamps, Naboo_

_32 BBY_

The crack of a twig beneath a boot heel made Sabe open her eyes. She sat up. The Queen's eyes were obscured by shadow as she regarded her. She slid down to sit nearby with her back against a tree trunk, and crossed her arms over her knees. Her face was a study, and Sabe had the feeling she wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "You know this isn't what I was asking for, Sabe."

Sabe fingers plucked at the blanket Qui-Gon had covered her with. "I find myself at a loss to ascertain what you want from me, my Queen."

"Don't hide behind formalities!" Padme said angrily.

Sabe flinched.

Padme's eyes burned. "This is a job, Sabe, not a martyrdom. When we are called upon to risk our lives, it is to be for Naboo, not to prove something to anyone else."

Sabe clutched her coverlet about her, her muscles tensing.

"If I had known you were reluctant because you were ill, I—"

"That was _not _the reason!" Sabe retorted through her teeth. "You don't understand me at all."

"You think your observation of me has been one-sided," Padme said more softly. "But you are wrong. I've seen your devotion. I've also seen how you live through the smoke and mirrors your position provides for you. And you consistently ask me to do the same."

Sabe tried to turn away from her, but Padme leaned forward, gripping her shoulders earnestly. "Dear as you are to me, Sabe, this isn't about me or you. This is about Naboo."

"You are Naboo," Sabe whispered.

Padme shook her head and stood, pacing in frustration. "I am just a servant, Sabe! My life is a means to an end."

"No," Sabe interrupted. She stared down at her hands where they were twisting together on her lap. "Everything Naboo is, all her innocence, all her beauty, all her love of freedom comes from you. If you were to fall, the citizens of Naboo would feel as I would…" She swallowed hard against the lump forming in her throat. "…Lost. So if I could shield you from the harshness in the Galaxy, the corruption I know is out there, the evil and the filth I used to _live _in," She heard her own voice growing a little shrill, and attempted to calm herself. " I would do it. No matter what."

Padme stared at her. Sabe couldn't meet her eyes. "Sabe," Padme said. "Even if you could shield me from the outside entirely, you would smother me. As you sometimes smother yourself."

She tucked the blankets back around Sabe's chin and rose. "You will remain here. Tomorrow the scouts will return with medics, and they will attend to you. The others and I will continue to Theed."

Sabe cast the blankets aside. "You can't leave me behind!"

"Can you never follow an order?" Padme snapped. Then she closed her eyes, calming. "This must be. The disguise is lost. You can serve me best now by healing."

Sabe did not relax. "The Queen is not meant to be a martyr either."

"It's not—" Padme protested.

Sabe shook her head. "This plan will not work without the most careful of strategy. I _have _failed you, but you still need me. You need my abilities. The Jedi will be otherwise occupied, and they do not have my face."

Padme sighed deeply, obviously searching for arguments. But then her face changed completely, her lips parting as some idea came to her. "That's it," she breathed.

"What?"

Padme raised wide eyes to Sabe's face. "That's it, that's how we will win!"

"How?"

Padme smirked. "Smoke and mirrors, Sabe."

Sabe began to catch Padme's train of thought. "A decoy."

"Yes."

"To draw the droids away from Theed."

"Yes!"

"We could use the tunnels to access the city. I know some that go from the Northern banks of the lake right to the falls." Sabe looked at Padme. "Would it work?"

"If we could get the pilots to their ships, they could disable the control ship. And then we could capture the Viceroy," Padme said with equal astonishment. It seemed so simple. Why had they not thought of it from the beginning? Padme dropped back to her knees beside Sabe. "How far away are those tunnels?"

"A half a day at the most," Sabe said. Scooting away from Padme she grabbed a stick and began scratching a rough map in the soft soil beside them. "We could use the swamp fog for cover. Go around this side of the Lake. "

"The Gungans could be sent straight on to the grass plains," Padme pointed out.

The two girls talked long into the night, Padme hammering out her plans of attack, and Sabe nodding in excitement. Neither noticed as the moons went down and a rosy tint grew on the western horizon. Both were too consumed by the sudden, inexplicable possibility of victory.

* * *

Sabe walked unhindered among the crowd of Naboovians and Gungans crowding the marsh they had made their temporary refuge. It was not an hour past daybreak, and it seemed that she was not the only one who hadn't slept. At dawn Captain Tarpals had begun preparing his soldiers for battle. She'd watched their drills with amazement. If she learned only one thing from this ordeal, it would be to never again to underestimate the Gungans as foes or allies. 

Padme and the others were pacing, waiting for the return of scouts from Theed. Captain Panaka hoped that there were still able men in the capital city who could bolster their flimsy rescue party. But their real strength would lie in their subterfuge. Padme was planning on revealing their plot to the Captain and the Jedi as soon as she could see how many men they could gather.

Sabe took a deep, slow breath and tried not to think about the coming struggle. It was a truly beautiful day, the sky as clear and pure as one of Naboo's river jewels. Various species of swamp fowl sang clear notes from the scattered patches of marsh grass, occasionally rising from the spiky fronds in feathered clouds. Sabe wrinkled her nose at the acrid-smelling water coating her boots and the mud squishing beneath her heels, making for firmer ground beneath the dense shade of a grove of swamp trees.

As soon as she entered the cool darkness, her senses spiked. The Jedi were nearby, with the boy. Though there were no secrets left to be guarded, she could not help her shyness. She kept to the shadows, keeping her steps light on the loamy forest floor as she crept toward their presence.

She picked up the warm tones of Qui-Gon's voice, an expression in it she remembered well.

"I cannot teach you the exact details of our methods yet, Anakin. But I can prepare you for them. You must empty your mind of all thought, all feeling, and all want. Only then can you see the pathways of the Living Force."

Peering over the branches of a low and scrubby evergreen, she saw them at last. They had chosen the packed earth of a sunlit clearing for their exercise, and were sitting in a relaxed triangle. The fires in Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon burned steady and low, while Anakin's energy flared and died at intervals. As she listened to Qui-Gon's voice and felt her own mind grow calm, she felt Anakin's aura steady momentarily, before roaring back to blazing and uncontrolled brilliance as soon as the Master was silent. Qui-Gon was the anchor that kept him from going adrift on the powerful waves assailing him. She knew with assurance as she observed that there was no other Jedi in the Galaxy who could accomplish it quite so well. He held Anakin's heart as firmly as he'd held hers as a child, and Anakin was powerless to deny his gentle command.

Anakin let out a frustrated sigh, and Sabe sensed his anxiety. Obviously he had no previous experience in meditation. The sensation could be quite disconcerting at first.

Qui-Gon opened his slate-colored eyes and smiled. "No, you have not achieved control yet, young one. But you are doing very well."

Anakin opened his eyes and looked at Qui-Gon doubtfully. There were shadows of fatigue beneath them, and Sabe could almost hear his stomach growl.

Qui-Gon chuckled. "Point taken. Go and have the Queen feed you. That will be all for this morning."

Anakin's protruding lip receded and he jumped to his feet happily.

Obi-Wan looked up. "If I am not needed, Master, I will remain. I feel pressed to quiet my mind."

"Very well, padawan. Just be certain to return when the speeders arrive," Qui-Gon said serenely, standing and following Anakin, toward the brush where Sabe was hidden.

It was silly, but she still fought the urge to slink away. She silently rehearsed her apology for the moment when Qui-Gon discovered her. But as soon as his keen eyes found her, he gave a mischievous wink. Sabe couldn't help but smile back as he and Anakin passed.

She turned back toward Obi-Wan, who had stood. As she watched, he unclipped the lightsaber from his belt and discarded his robe. Curious, she stepped closer. She could feel his mind deep within the Force, but he activated the lightsaber and moved as if sparring with an invisible foe, his body moving with practiced grace as he parried and swung. The air hummed with the change in temperature as the lightsaber sliced through it. The force buzzed with an energy that was physically palpable…and not unpleasant. Closing her eyes unconsciously, Sabe drew it in to herself.

His movements stilled at once. "I know you are there," he said with his back still toward her.

Sabe swallowed and moved from her hiding place. "Forgive me."

"It is a free forest," He remarked. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," she replied, tensing. "You aren't going to repeat the lecture I received from the Queen are you?"

"I'm sure she was thorough enough," he said.

Suddenly an idea seemed to come to him, and he bent, retrieving an object from the ground. He tossed it to her and she caught it one-handed. It was a lightsaber, a much simpler one than his or his master's. It was smaller too, as if it was built with a younger person in mind.

"A training model," He said. "Come, let us finish the match we began so many years ago."

"Which I won," Sabe pointed out.

He grinned, an expression she was not used to seeing on his face. It suited him, crinkling the corners of his eyes and softening his mouth. "You cheated."

"I did _not_!" She said, crossing her arms petulently. "I will not be goaded into a sword battle."

"It is only on half-power. It cannot hurt you." Obi-Wan said.

"Perhaps I was more worried about hurting you," Sabe retorted, and activated the lightsaber.

The humming green blade advanced immediately. Sabe grimaced, testing the heft of the weapon carefully in her palm. This would be the second time in her life she had handled one. This was an entirely different matter than the fencing that had been taught in the academy. A sword had weight to mark its lethal edge, balance to keep the fighter from accidentally skewering himself. The lightsaber had neither. There was no real substance in the blade, but the danger in its glow was apparent. Sabe nearly turned it off and handed it back. But the open, mocking challenge on Obi-Wan's face was not to be denied. Centering herself, she closed her eyes.

She didn't need her eyes to see him, or to feel the carefully controlled movements of his breathing and the steady throb of his heart. She was him. She was everything. She realized at once that he was helping her to dip a toe in that fathomless forever ocean, and then submerging her in it. She'd never been this deep before. There were no individual lights around her, just luminescence that blinded her, and made her fully see for the first time. With a gasp she felt around in it, and sensed the sudden shift. Her mind reacted, and then her body, and she heard the crackle and hiss as their blades connected.

She was moving faster than she could think through silence except for the sharp spurts of energy where blade met blade. She felt him somersault over her head, and turned to meet him. She felt the brush of his cloak and of his consciousness as she twirled to surprise him, and his smirk when he turned her intention on its head, using it to go for an opening on her left side. And then she was away, and back again for another blow. She opened her eyes, too immersed in the Force now for vision to interfere. She saw that they were not fighting. They were dancing, waltzing across primal currents of power beyond any intention to outdo the other or achieve victory.

With a leap she was within a foot, and their blades met cross-wise. Lightning snaked up and down the lightsabers, static snapping between the green and the blue. Sabe leaned into his blade, her muscles trembling beneath the strength of his arm. But her body felt so warm from exercise, taught like a well-tuned string. The aching protest from her biceps was a welcome feeling…until she noticed that his face was only inches away within the v of the crossed blades. He blinked uncertainly as she noticed that his eyes were not pure blue as she'd thought, but mixed with eddies of dark storm grey and green like the shadows over a riptide. Backing away, she tripped over her own feet, landing unceremoniously on her behind.

He pressed his lips together, his eyes twinkling merrily, and then shut off his weapon, reaching down a hand to help her up. Shaking her head, she leapt for the opening at once, snaking her still-buzzing lightsaber out from beside her and up to the level of his throat. She blinked in surprise when she realized his blade was alongside her neck as well.

He lifted an eyebrow. "You didn't think I'd fall for that ploy a second time?"

"My blade beat yours by a half-second," Sabe said.

"By your count? Being an opponent hardly makes you an objective judge." He countered.

For a charged minute they both refused to budge. Then it occurred to her how much like bickering children they were acting, and she giggled. His laughter joined hers without hesitation. With a touch so faint and so quick she could almost have imagined it, he tucked a loose strand of hair back from where it had fallen behind her ear.

Sabe's defenses slammed back into place. With an uncomfortable cough she turned away, a bevy of manic butterflies suddenly taking flight in her stomach. They both jumped when they heard Captain Panaka's voice from the marsh.

"They're here! The speeders have finally returned!"

* * *

**A/N : Gee, it's much more fun to think about a story than about my psychology test. Maybe now that I've placated my misbehaving and unstudious muse I can turn my attention back to the delights of the B.F. Skinner/ Sigmund Freud debate on behaviorism vs. psychoanalysis. God help me. **

**Sweet Christabel : Thanks! I'm eager to put some bigger twists in with a sequel. Frankly, I'm getting antsy having to write within the confines of TPM.**

**Calixa Inflixa **: **Hope the banter will suffice until O and S can get their act together ;-) . I kind of hate it when the handmaidens are portrayed as docile little servant girls. I like to think about them as fussing and fighting and then making up and kicking butt together. **

**Emerald Tiara : STAR WARS ISN'T REAL? **

**Read n' review :-D **


	12. Battle for Naboo

**Chapter Eleven:** Battle for Naboo

_ Paonga Swamps, Naboo_

The grey light of morning just made it through the gauzy mist surrounding the Paonga Swamps. Shadows moved within, and the throbbing drones of didgeridoos made the ground tremble.

All at once the shadows took on substance, and two thousand Gungans emerged from the fog, on foot and on kaadu. The haze coupled with the mourning calls of their didgeridoos gave them a spectral quality as they slowly took to the grass plains in formation. They marched for a kilometer, shaking the swamp mud from their feet in the midst of their loping strides. With a final growling blast from the didgeridoos, the Grand Army halted at the foot of a low rise. The shields on the backs of their massive fambas activated with an electric hum, spreading a crackling blue membrane over them. Then they stood motionless, the seasoned warriors frowning ahead unflinchingly, the younger ones swallowing hard as they heard the faint rumble of the approaching enemy.

Armored assault tanks and droid transporters reached the crest of the hill, the smaller tanks appearing like a swarm of ants flowing over the top, and the large transporters like glossy grey beetles creeping among them. Fighter jets roared overhead.

The Gungans were not acting under any pretenses. Even the bumbling General Binks understood that they had not a chance against the droid army. Their only purpose was to serve as temporary living targets, and it was likely that many of them would die today. Each Gungan glanced briefly at his neighbor, wandering which of them would leave the field and which would remain on it at nightfall, bleeding into the sandy soil. One by one, they squared their shoulders, accepting whatever fate the Gods had selected for them. training their thoughts on the young and impetuous queen still concealed somewhere behind them. The hope of all of them weighted her slim shoulders.

"Da acts of da brave be songs to da guds!" Captain Tarpals cried, shaking his cesta spear toward the droids menacingly.

The foot soldiers tightened their formation around his kaadu as they saw the compartments of the transport ships open, shelves of gleaming folded droids slowly lowered to the ground. The didgeridoos cried out into the still air.

* * *

They Queen and her party made their way along the banks of the Paonga, keeping to the safe concealment of the swamp fog. After a few miles they left the lake banks for a winding path cut into the smooth granite of the cliffs abutting Theed. Soon they were within the Verdugo Falls themselves, the foamy curtain of water flickering with prismatic light and a distorted view of the panorama beyond. Sabe saw the blackness of the tunnel that interrupted the smooth grey surface of the rock wall. "That's it," she said to Padme. "That will take us right into the square." 

They were very close to the city now. A few hundred feet beyond the rock face and Theed would be in sight. Overhead they heard the scream of enemy fighters, hastening to meet the Gungans in the grasslands, and far in the distance they could hear the mournful call of the Gungan signalers along with the drone of heavy tanks.

Captain Panaka had collected a few medics, some police and more guards who had been attempting to resist the invasion in Theed. But there were only enough to fill three armed speeders, which would be accompanying them through the passages into the city. Everyone gathered around Padme, as she delivered low-voiced final instructions. Sabe took a deep breath and gathered her reserves, traveling the tunnels with her memory, following them into the square, trying to ascertain what they would find there, how they would proceed.

Suddenly the hairs along the back of her neck stood on end. She opened her eyes to find Obi-Wan standing next to her, looking at her sidelong. She felt her calm giving way to giddy awareness of his proximity.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

He looked toward the tunnel, his jaw set. She recognized the expression, that of a warrior considering the battle ahead. But then the firm lines around his mouth relaxed. "Even the best disguise tends to melt before the eyes of one strong in the Force."

Sabe stiffened, resenting both the implication and her own distraction at his nearness. "Your point?"

"I feel the presence of the dark warrior from the desert," Obi-Wan said.

Sabe felt icy fingers playing along her spine. She recalled winds of destruction, and a merciless, echoing voice.

"If we should encounter him, do not attempt to sway him with tricks," Obi-Wan continued, looking down at her. "Leave him to us. Take the Queen and run."

Sabe was speechless, touched by the idea that he had taken the time to consider her safety in the heady confusion of the battle preparations.

He was silent for a moment and then said in a low voice, "We are none of us perfect in our duty, Sabe." His blue eyes mirrored clear regret. "I too have struggled with my pride these past few days."

Sabe stared at him. He gave her the smallest of encouraging smiles and walked on ahead to join his Master.

As they entered the tunnel, Sabe realized there were one or two details she and Padme had not considered. Though she and the Jedi moved easily enough over the rugged floor of the secret passages, the others stumbled often and sometimes ran head-on into the walls. Sabe found herself shouting out guidance, but she still heard irritated cries of pain and thuds as those behind her struggled on. The speeders that followed up the rear just barely cleared the walls, and Sabe winced as she heard the screech of rock connecting with metal. It seemed like hours until they finally reached the fork made by two tunnels converging, but in reality it was only about thirty minutes.

"We must separate now," Sabe said. "The left side leads to the columns just behind the hangar. And you want the rest of us to approach the square from beneath the statue?"

"Yes," Padme said "My team should proceed to the left."

The Jedi, Eirtae, and half the guards moved on ahead. The young Queen lingered. She found Sabe with some difficulty in the dark. Sabe felt her cool, slim hand on her cheek. "Take care," she said softly.

Sabe's eyes prickled, but she nodded with a grin. "Nothing we can't handle, right Rabe?" She felt the other handmaiden's shoulder against hers in the dimness, and her determined smile.

Without warning, Padme seized Sabe in her arms, pressing her to her heart. She was gone just as suddenly, running down the passage to catch up with the others.

The tunnel Sabe, Panaka, Rabe, and the others followed opened beneath the statue of King Jafan in the square of the city. Sabe glanced up at the statue as they crept out beneath it. She thought Jafan had never looked so grand with his split lip, depicted in the battle that would end with the Great Time of Peace. Though she had only worn that scar as a decoy, she felt its weight on her heart. As they passed, she pressed her fingers to her lips and touched the base of the statue.

They surveyed the square. There were armored assault tanks about fifty feet away, and one stationary squadron of fifteen or twenty droids near them. Another group of droids marched by, leading prisoners secured one to the next by chains. Among them were two familiar hooded figures, one nearly losing her footing as she was jerked along at an insupportable pace.

"That's Sache and Yane!" Rabe gasped at Sabe's elbow. Sabe squeezed her arm as the group of prisoners and droids moved out of sight.

Across the square Sabe caught a flash of red and saw Padme with the Jedi and the rest of her team. Captain Panaka pointed his laser signal in their direction, and there was an answering flash. He waved behind him, and one of the speeders loaded with the last of the Naboovian resistance fighters slowly curved around the base of the statue, lowering a cannon. Sabe closed her eyes, reaching out with hesitant fingers of her consciousness to the inner glow of the force. It shivered.

A bolt of energy sizzled across the square. One of the tanks near Padme's group exploded into orange flame.

The responses of the droids in the square was immediate, a chorus of metallic monotones; "There they are…after them…open fire." They leveled their blasters and Sabe and the others were bombarded with streaks of blue and green light. They all ducked quickly, trying to aim around the side of the wall, fighting one another for space enough to do so. As she returned fire, Sabe saw Padme and the Jedi hurry into the open hangar door followed by a group of pilots. She bent her head over her blaster, trying to keep her aim as steady as possible as her team methodically began to clear the square.

Her hands were slick on the blaster, her trigger finger quivering just slightly. But she felt an odd sort of detachment as she cursed the cold sweat on her palms and the unsteady effects of adrenaline on her aim. Her focus was narrowed to her targets, and objects and blaster light seemed to slow to a standstill around her. _I'm spinning_, she thought irritably, _totally spinning away. I must get it together or I will die._

Closing her eyes momentarily, she called on the inner quiet, the deep current that she had to navigate. Light danced behind her eyes and they snapped open. She leapt just in time to dodge cannon fire that annihilated the statue of King Jafen just behind her. Stone rained to the pavement.

"Hurry! We have to get inside!" Captain Panaka shouted, beckoning wildly at her and those around her. There were fewer in their party than there had been before. She leapt and stumbled over bodies, trying not to look down as she followed the Captain and the others across the now-cleared square to the hangar.

Their problems were not over once they made it inside. Reinforcement droids poured through the maintenance door, identifying Sabe as a primary target and jogging toward her on metal feet.

"The Queen, kill the Queen!" commanded an emotionless robotic voice.

Sabe found herself faced with six battle droids, their blasters all trained at her throat. Closing her eyes, she fired randomly, expecting at any moment to feel her flesh being rent apart by scorching-hot beams. Instead, she heard explosions, and when she opened her eyes, all six lay smoking and twitching. She turned.

Eirtae stood behind her, still glaring down the barrel of her blaster.

"What I wouldn't give for your eye!" Sabe exclaimed.

Eirtae looked at her. A corner of her mouth turned up. "What I wouldn't give for your reckless disregard for the safety of your own skin."

Was that some sort of roundabout compliment? But Sabe had no time to analyze it, for the pilots had now reached their ships, and they had to split their time between shooting at the droids and dodging the fighters that now rocketed past and soared out of the hangar.

"This way!" Padme cried from the other end of the hangar, and the two groups converged again, headed for the door to the underground power plant that energized the palace and most of the city of Theed. If they could make it down the catwalk through the center, they would be able to take a tunnel right into the throne room.

But it was not to be. They all skidded to a stop as the power plant door lifted slowly, revealing a figure completely enveloped in a black cloak. Suddenly Sabe's hold on the Force dropped as if it had never been. She gasped as she recognized the sick yellow eyes and the chaotic aura. An overwhelming wave of dark power crashed over her, causing a wave of nausea to ripple through her stomach. She wasn't the only one who sensed it. Everyone froze, unsure at first what to do.

It leeched energy from them, replacing it with soul-freezing fear. Images played out in Sabe's mind like the reel of a horror film; two thousand Gungan bodies rotting in the hot midday sun, Rabe and Eirtae lying bleeding and broken on the palace floor, the Jedi torn asunder, Padme herself shrinking before the insane grin of the dark creature. She felt her own loathsomeness, her own inadequacy, pathetically pliant before the force power of this being, turned as easily as a chess piece. She felt the monster's voice in her head, laughing maniacally as it chanted unceasingly.

_Peace is a lie, there is only passion_

_Through passion I gain strength_

_Through strength I gain power_

_Through power I gain victory."_

She felt herself growing faint. Nothing could break through this. Nothing could penetrate this blackness.

Then, light bled through, and a hand fell on Sabe's shoulder.

_Act as a candle in dark places, and there the Force will find you._

Sabe turned to look, and there were the steady grey pools of Qui-Gon's eyes. Obi-Wan stood close behind him. It seemed as if a corona surrounded them, and their gentle energy slowed her speeding heart and released her soul from the evil that had imprisoned it a moment before. They looked and felt like gods. Her lips parted in awe as she watched them doff their cloaks with perfect calm.

"We'll handle this," Qui-Gon said, stepping through the group to face the dark lord squarely. He and Obi-Wan stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Blue and green blades hissed into the air.

"Come on," Padme ordered. "We'll take the long way."

Sabe hesitated for a half-second, staring at the master and his apprentice. But the Queen's authoritative tone brought her back to herself, and she turned to follow as Padme made for the maintenance hall on the right of the hangar.

Immediately, three droidekas rolled into their path and righted themselves onto metal clawlike feet. Sabe ducked with the others as a volley of laser fire surrounded them. Their counter-fire richocheted uselessly off the luminescent shields of the destroyer droids. They were running out of options.

All at once, the droidekas seemed to self-destruct, blossoming into yellow flame. They turned as a group just in time to see one remaining fighter rolling past, picking up speed for takeoff as it approached the open end of the hangar.

"Lucky he got caught behind," Padme remarked as she ran off down the corridor.

"No such thing as luck," Sabe muttered, staring after the disappearing fighter worriedly. She'd felt a distinct pulse of energy from within that ship.

"Don't just stand around like that!" Eirtae shouted. "Let's go!"

* * *

The maintenance hallway was completely clear, but just as they entered the castle and faced the main stairway, they found their path blocked by a squadron of droids able to slow them down sufficiently to end Padme's patience. "We don't have time for this, Captain," she yelled to Panaka. 

He looked toward the large windows streaming with light. "Ascension guns!" He yelled back, and shot out the transparisteel. He and Padme scrambled out the window, followed by four other guards.

Eirtae moved to follow, but Sabe put her hand on her shoulder. "No! We'll cover them! Fight our way up the main stairway!"

Eirtae shrugged doubtfully. "Whatever you say."

_I'm never going to let her forget how agreeable she is being_, Sabe thought. They concentrated their fire on the droids on the stairs, slowly making their way up.

As she became more and more immersed in the tension of battle, Sabe began to hear the roar of blood in her ears, the throb of her own pulse in all her extremities.

It was nothing new to her, this rush of adrenaline, this singing battle song in her veins. Though from a certain point of view this was her first battle, in many ways she'd always been fighting. As a child she'd fought just to stay alive, scrambling and clawing her way over the property and bodies of others. Even in the temple her attention had constantly been trained over her shoulder, waiting for an attack from behind.

_But to fight for survival….Every living thing does that. It isn't courage. To fight merely for survival is nothing. _

Sabe shook her head, trying to concentrate. It was slow going, but at last they reached a level where Sabe could access the tunnels again. She felt a strong tug in the Force. "The Queen has been captured," she said to Rabe and Eirtae. "There is no time to lose."

As they scrambled through the dark tunnels, Sabe yelled directions to the others, trying to warn them of the twists and turns in the path. They stumbled and groaned along anyway. At last they reached a dead end, and Sabe found the panel that lifted the wall away. Blinking against the blinding spill of light, the group ran out, peering around a column. They were just outside the throne room door now, and from their vantage point they could see into it, where Padme, Captain Panaka, and the guards had been imprisoned by ten or fifteen droids. Nute Gunray stood before them, his ugly reptilian face made even more so by his expression of self-satisfaction.

"Now what?" Eirtae whispered in dismay.

_Knowing that there are bigger things to fight for than just survival. Knowing freedom, beauty, and justice. Those are Padme's gifts to me. _

Sabe smiled grimly. "Now, we make ourselves as obvious as possible," she replied.

Jumping to her feet, she strode down the middle of the hallway. "Sabe, what the-" Eirtae hissed, and caught at her wrist, but she shook off the girl's grip. After a moment she heard the others following and she broke into a run.

"Viceroy!" She shouted. Everyone in the throne room turned to stare at her. "Your occupation has ended here!" She fired, and to her delight, hit two droids squarely on either side of Nute Gunray.

Darting to the right with the guards and Rabe and Eirtae just behind her, she laughed to herself as she heard Gunray's shout. "After her! This one is a decoy!" A stream of battle droids flowed out of the throne room doors.

_Secure the doors, Padme, secure the doors_, she prayed silently, and then beamed with satisfaction as she heard the giant doors of the throne room slam shut.

Eirtae caught up to her as they neared the Great Hall, blaster fire whistling around them and taking chunks out of the columns on either side. "Uh, Sabe? Was there a plan in place here?"

"Of course!" Sabe replied with a laugh. "Just shoot until there aren't any more of them!"

Eirtae groaned as they entered the Great Hall and the droids flooded in behind them. "Cut them off!" she shouted, and the guards closed and locked the doors.

It seemed that the handmaidens and the guards' movements were all choreographed in a deadly dance as they dispatched the droids in the Great Hall with ruthless efficiency. But apparently one side had not been secured, for around a column rolled three more of the insect-like droidekas. Sabe felt her companions hesitate. Their blasters would be useless against the machines' auto shields, and there were no fighter jets around to help them now.

_Having the freedom to choose what I will love and what I will fight for, that was Qui-Gon's gift to me._

Sabe faced them and closed her eyes, giving herself over to her feelings. She became a wave again in the limitless ocean, her companions' presences sharpening to brilliant points of light. The Force swirled around them all, forming a turbulent crisis point somewhere above. Her eyes flew open. "The chandeliers!" she cried, and everyone trained their weapons on the huge candelabras just over the droidekas. After a few direct hits, the lights swayed and fell upon the machines, overloading their shield generators with their tremendous weight. The flickering blue of their shields disappeared altogether as the chandeliers crashed to the floor, and the droidekas wiggled feebly under the debris, attempting to get clear of it.

"Oh, guys,' Eirtae said with an malicious twinkle in her blue eyes. "You all just picked the wrong handmaidens to mess with."

Sabe, Eirtae, and Rabe advanced on the damaged machines, their blasters merciless as they turned the destroyers into smoking piles of dust.

**A/N: In case you are confused, didgeridoos are Austrailian instruments, and they have a fairly interesting history. They are little more than hollow tree trunks that have had the insides eaten by termites. The tube is cleaned and polished and one end is sealed with wax and used as a mouth piece. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to get a sound out of these things. But some anthropologists believe they may be one of the oldest instruments on Earth, possibly 40,000 years old! **

**Anyway, if you watch the battle scene in TPM, you will see the Gungans playing a similar instrument that pretty much sounds the same. So I decided they were the same, mostly because I think didgeridoos are really cool. **

**Another thing : I forgot to note it in a previous chapter, but the little sithie chant Maul keeps repeating is actually the Sith Code, as written in some book or other in the expanded universe. It is meant to directly mock the Jedi Code, and it ain't mine. I'm just borrowing it to make him creepy :-) **

** Not much else to say 'cept read n' review :-D**


	13. Aftershock

**Chapter Twelve:** Aftershock 

_Theed, Naboo_

Governor Bibble and Captain Panaka pushed open the heavy doors of the Great Hall and stared at the scene beyond. Governor Bibble's sharp eyes darted from the crushed chandeliers, to the pulverized chunks of marble littering the floor, to the scores of battle droids lying still amidst the chaos. "What in the Republic happened here?" He thundered. "An explosion?"

Some of the rubble shifted, and three slim forms stood up from the debris, slapping dust from their clothing.

"No," Captain Panaka said. "Just the destructive force of teenage girls," He winked at the three.

"Hey!" One guard piped up indignantly. A few larger forms stood from the rubble. "Not _just _teenaged girls!"

"Hmm," Governor Bibble said thoughtfully. "If only a handful of guards and three little girls made this mess, perhaps I should send these two back where they came from." Two hooded faces peeked from behind him.

"Sache!" Rabe cried tearfully. "And Yane!" The girls gave her face-splitting smiles and limped a little painfully into her waiting arms.

"I found them being guarded by a group of frozen droids," Governor Bibble said, smiling.

"Frozen?" Sabe asked.

"Yes," Captain Panaka said. "It appears the pilots were successful. The control ship was destroyed."

"You mean….we've won?" Eirtae stammered.

Captain Panaka smiled and shrugged.

She turned slowly back to Sabe and Rabe and the three girls stared at one another wordlessly. Then suddenly they all erupted into a cacophony of disbelieving screams and laughter, throwing their arms over one another's shoulders. The guards joined in, slapping their backs good-naturedly.

Governor Bibble cleared his throat, his eyes twinkling at their girlish bedlam. Captain Panaka laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Not a bad days' work for a bunch of juveniles," He grinned, his eyes uncharacteristically warm as he looked at the results of his years of dedicated training.

"Where is Pad-I mean, Amidala?" Eirtae asked.

"In the throne room. Come, Governor, girls. Let us go and present you to your Queen."

The girls straightened proudly as they followed the men into the hall and to the throne room. It appeared that the others had succeeded in freeing most of the council members. Nute Gunray slumped between two guards, his bulging rosy eyes clouded as he stared lifelessly at the floor.

Padme was not looking her best, if one was honest about it. There was nothing particularly royal about her simple battle dress, and she looked tired and dirty with her hair falling from the confines of her bun. But as all five handmaidens lined up before her, reunited at last, Sabe thought she had never seen a more welcome sight than the Queen back in her throne, her delicate hands resting on the curved arms.

"Report," the Queen said to Panaka in court accent.

"The Federation's forces have been soundly crippled following the destruction of the droid control ship," Panaka said. "Our small number of troops have had no trouble in freeing what prisoners could not free themselves. I have already dispatched a unit to patrol for any non-droid Federation forces."

"And which pilot can we credit with the destruction of the control ship?" Amidala asked.

Panaka cleared his throat, sending Governor Bibble an amused glance. "Preliminary reports indicate that it was none other than Anakin Skywalker, your highness."

A collective gasp went through the room. Sabe smiled knowingly to herself.

"It appears that he took Master Jinn's order to stay in the cock pit seriously, even when the fighter jet took off on auto pilot."

"Well," Amidala said, the court accent faltering ever so slightly as she recovered herself visibly. "Give the pilots special instructions to see him back to the landing dock carefully. We wouldn't want him auto-piloting anywhere else."

The smallest of amused snorts escaped Sabe. Amidala's impassive eyes turned to her at the small noise, and she ducked her head in shame at losing her composure in court. But Amidala's eyes sparkled, and she smiled with the look of a mother who has forgotten the pains of labor upon looking into the face of her child. An avenging angel. A warrior queen. Unbidden, tears slipped from Sabe's eyes and slid down her cheeks.

"Why, Sabe! Whatever is the matter?" Amidala asked in concern.

Sabe sniffed, horrified, and rubbed her tears away hastily as she felt the stern eyes of the council members on her. "Nothing my Queen," she said softly. "It is only that I have just realized that there is no place in the Galaxy I would rather be than standing here, as your servant."

Padme's eyes misted. They did not leave Sabe as she spoke. "Viceroy, you may believe it was my cleverness and strength that defeated you, but in fact it was the unfailing loyalty of those in this room."

He raised his eyes slightly, looking dull and sluggish and all but hanging from the guards' hands.

Remembering the Viceroy's insufferable disdain on the day of the invasion, Sabe spared him a sadistic little smile. "What a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Viceroy," She murmured, tugging the headdress back from her head. Her hair had sweated a little color onto her forehead and cascaded ruddily onto her shoulders.

"Guards, make the Viceroy comfortable in the holding area," Padme said gleefully. She stood from the throne and linked arms with Sabe as they watched the guards drag away the protesting Neimoidian.

The Queen's lack of formality served as an unofficial dismissal, and the council members began drifting from the room. It was then that Sabe noticed the marked absence for the first time.

"Padme, where are the Jedi?" she whispered urgently.

Padme frowned, and she looked at Captain Panaka. "I…don't know. I have not seen them since were separated in the hangar. Have you had any word, Captain?"

"No, your highness," Panaka said.

"The creature they fought was excessively strong," Sabe said "It may be that they will need assistance."

"Agreed," Padme said, gesturing to the other handmaidens as well. "All of you go, and take troops with you. Report back when you have made contact."

"Yes, your highness," Sabe said, and started out the door.

A firm hand on her shoulder stopped her in the hall. "_Oh _no," Eirtae said. "Your recklessness served us well in the battle, but I'm tired of hairs-breadth escapes. This time _I _lead."

Sabe grinned and hung back. "Very well. Do you have a plan?"

Eirtae smirked back. "I think we've done pretty well on a wing and a prayer, so far."

* * *

This wasn't how things were supposed to be. 

Sabe felt the color draining from her face as she and the others neared the doors of a small circular room just off the main hall of the power plant. A crowd of guards obscured the inside of it from her view. She thought nothing could be quite as bad as what she imagined lying beyond that grim line of faces. Then one shifted, and past his shoulder she saw the two forms on the containment room floor, one hunched over the other. A brush of air from within brought the acrid smell of singed hair and burnt flesh to her nose.

"Sabe, wait a minute," Rabe muttered, catching at her arm.

Sabe shook her off and ran forward, pushing through the guards into the room. She rushed to Obi-Wan, who cradled his Master's body across his lap. Grabbing his elbow, she tried to pry it away, to confirm what she couldn't yet allow herself to believe. "Let me see."

Obi-Wan resisted her, his forehead pressed to Qui-Gon's. "Go away," He muttered.

"Please, Obi-Wan, let us help him!" Sabe pleaded.

Obi-Wan pushed her off. "Don't touch him!"

Sabe staggered back. His face was terrible, contorted by pain and rage. He gathered the body even more closely to him. His eyes glittered unnaturally bright, as if he had been taken by some fever, and there was no sign of recognition in them. "It's too late," he choked, rocking slightly, his gaze distant and glazed.

It was _not _supposed to be this way. Sabe sank to her knees, the sense of utter wrongnesssettling over her like a shroud. She thought back, trying in vain to pinpoint where in the last few days fate had taken this unfathomable turn. This was supposed to be untainted victory. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were supposed to stand with them at the victory parade. They were supposed to receive laurels from the Queen. And then Qui-Gon was supposed to return to the Temple with Obi-Wan and Anakin, to train the boy to become the Jedi who would change the Galaxy.

Anakin…How would they tell him? Who would be his champion now?

A small sound reached her ears and she opened her eyes. In the entryway, Rabe, and Eirtae had made their way past the guards and were taking in the scene with disbelief on their faces. Like Anakin, they had all inwardly believed that Jedi could not die.

It was Eirtae who approached her first, and Sabe found herself leaning heavily into her arms. After a moment she became aware that Rabe was coaxing Obi-Wan with gentle words. It was a long time before the other handmaiden could persuade him to relinquish the body to the waiting medics. He dazedly followed as they steered the medpod out of the room.

Sabe slumped, her eyes fixeddully on the patterned floor.

"Sabe," Rabe said softly, coming to her and brushing back her hair. "You also need to come to the healers. Your wound should be checked."

It was all Sabe could do to concentrate enough to follow what she was saying. Her wound? Oh, of course. "No. It doesn't hurt," She murmured.

"You look like hell," Eirtae said bluntly. "And you've had a shock. Come away."

"Eirtae," Sabe hissed. "I want to be alone right now."

Rabe and Eirtae looked at one another. "Come on, Eirtae," Rabe said. Eirtae looked reluctant, but Rabe guided her away with a firm hand.

For a while Sabe just stared at the polished floor uncomprehendingly, wondering if she would ever again have the strength to rise. And then she pushed herself to her feet and looked around the containment room. She walked to the door, barely noticing the scorch marks marring its sides. She kept walking, aimlessly, with no clear idea of where she should go or what she should do. With every step the mantra in her head seemed to echo, louder and more frantic.

_This isn't the way it was supposed to be. _

For all these years she had hated him. He had abandoned her, just like all the others, after making her almost believe that he and his kind were different. Or at least that was what she hadthought as a child and for so long afterwards. It was only in the forest within the illusion he'd spun to dull her pain that she had finally seen the truth. When she'd come to the temple she'd been little more than a scavenging animal. In a way, Qui-Gon had become her father there, bringing her to life in a world she had not previously imagined; a world of order, civility, and justice. He'd given her dignity. He'd forced her to take control.

And what had she done with it? She'd clung to her shadows and hiding places. She'd fought as much against him and Obi-Wan as the enemies of Naboo, trying to keep herself secret from their eyes so she could keep herself safe from what she believed would be their judgement.

Sabe raised her head. She was deep in the bowels of the power plant. Huge power converters loomed around her, their control consoles flickering in the darkness. She heard voices in the distance. Guards, patrolling for Neimoidian stragglers.

She nearly gagged and lost her footing as she rounded a corner and came upon a terrible sight. There on the permacrete floor were the two halves of the demon that had slain Qui-Gon. Sabe looked up and saw the lip of the circular room fifty feet above. With horrified fascination she crept forward toward the creature's mutilated torso. It's stomach had been completely seared through, the stench unimaginable. She could still feel its black energy, dissipating now into the cold, dry air of the power plant. And then she saw its face, those terrible infection-colored eyes, the mouth below them twisted into a foul grimace. She turned her head, retching, and moved as far away as she could get.

After a moment or two she relaxed and opened her eyes.As she did, ametallic sparkle beside a power converter nearby caught her attention. Curious, Sabe ventured closer. There were metal pieces scattered on the floor around a cylindrical object about as long as her forearm.

It was a lightsaber, and one that was particularly familiar to her. She'd held it in her hands once. But it was all but obliterated now. The casing was split, and she could see the glowing crystals that gave it power and the wires and workings within.

She had only known Qui-Gon for three months, and he had touched her life more profoundly than anyone else she had ever known. But Obi-Wan…If Qui-Gon had been her father in some ways, he had been Obi-Wan's father in every way.

Kneeling, Sabe pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of her cloak. She gathered he pieces of the lightsaber with as delicate a touch as possible, tying them within the cloth.


	14. Candle in Dark Places

**Chapter Thirteen :** Candle in Dark Places

_Theed, Naboo_

The force was dark with sorrow.

It clouded her purpose, veiling her eyes from the singular spark of living fire she sought. It was not only her own sorrow, or Obi-Wan's, or Anakin's. It was the sorrow of every mother who had lost a son, every fatherless child, every widow. It was the Naboovians and the Gungans'. It rolled thickly around her, obscuring everything. She would accomplish nothing more today.

Sabe's eyes opened. When she'd shut them, noonday light had been streaming through the tall arching windows of the Palace Great hall. Now the windows were dark and the healers moved silently among the rows of makeshift pallets that crowded the hall from wall to wall. Sabe heard the steady breathing and soft snores of the people who slept around her.

She loosened her tight grip on Sache's hand and smoothed the girl's hair from her damp brow. Though Yane had livened right up after a few decent meals and some elementary first aid, Sache had taken the deprivation of the prison camps harder. The evening after the liberation she'd fallen ill with a dangerous fever. Though her fever had broken, there were still troubling hollows in her cheeks and purple smudges beneath her eyes. She was unnaturally pale, and spent most of the day sleeping. Sabe had tried to offer what little healing she was capable of giving, but found her own skill sorely lacking.

Sache wasn't the only one. In the first few days after the liberation the wounded and ailing flooded into Theed from all parts of the planet, Gungans and Naboovians among them. In addition, Theed itself was in shambles, and many of its citizens found themselves suddenly homeless. The blockade was gone but food was still scarce, and shipments were not expected for another day or so.

At first no one seemed to have any clear idea of where to begin. But then Queen Amidala seemed to hit her second wind, and a flurry of commands came with it. The palace guard was assigned to policing the rationing of what food stores they had, and beginning to clean up and rebuild. As it became clear that the Theed Medical Center was unable to serve the overwhelming numbers of casualties from the war, the Queen ordered that the Great Hall of the Palace and the auditorium of the Theed Academy be opened as temporary field hospitals. She ordered every member of her staff that could be spared to assist the healers.

Sabe would have preferred to share the more active duties of the guardsmen. But Rabe insisted that Sabe help in the Palace Great Hall, even going to Queen Amidala for intervention. Sabe suspected that it wasn't Rabe's desire for her skills as a nurse that drove her, but suspicion about Jedi healing and a continuing concern for her wound.

She'd managed to avoid her thoughts, keeping herself busy with the tasks Rabe assigned to her. If she was brutally honest with herself she would admit that she worked past midnight in the Great Hall every night to avoid Padme's pity, and Obi-Wan's eyes. Not that there was much risk of seeing Obi-Wan. Rabe had told her that he was immersed in deep meditation in the temple where Qui-Gon's body lay in a airtight polymer casket, awaiting the arrival of the Jedi Council.

"Sabe."

Sabe raised her head weakly, feeling somewhat poorly after the attempt with Sache.

"You don't look well," Rabe said kindly. "I will see to Sache. You go on and get some rest."

Sabe was much too tired to argue. She really had no business attempting healing. She had not the training or the ability for it. If any of the Jedi had caught her at it she would be severely reprimanded. Grabbing the basket of soiled linen at her feet, Sabe rose from her chair, and with one last look at the pale, sleeping girl in the bed, left the Great Hall.

Her steps echoed through the empty corridor. It was fairly late, and there was no other sound except for the whistle of the wind in the palace turrets. A rather creepy evening… Sabe shivered. Then she stopped in the middle of the hallway.

A pulse of energy. A throbbing pulse of great power. Sabe frowned, closing her eyes and extending her senses cautiously. She was so distracted that when the small pair of hands grabbed the back of her skirt, she screamed and threw the basket in the air, scattering linens all over the floor.

"Hide me, Sabe!" Anakin pleaded, not losing his grip on her skirt as he panted for breath and cast wild looks over his shoulder.

"Anakin, what in the Republic!" Sabe gasped, her hand to her heart. "What have you done now?"

"Eirtae…going to kill me…._please_, Sabe!"

Sabe smothered a grin as she bent and began to collect the clothing from the floor. "First things first," She straightened and attempted to look stern. "Have you finished it?"

The panic faded from the boy's face, replaced by a grin. "Real close," he bragged, then scratched the back of his head. "One more thing I need, though."

"What's that?" Sabe asked nervously. Anakin's grocery list of supplies had already achieved near-epic proportions.

He gave her an endearingly sheepish smile, or at least what he probably thought was one. "Um, nothing much, just…aminisuperconductor."

"What!" Sabe exclaimed. "How in the Republic am I to get a mini super conductor?"

He shrugged.

"ANAKIN SKYWALKER!"

The booming voice echoed in the rafters, and the floor seemed to shake beneath their feet. Anakin turned to Sabe with blue eyes the size of dinner plates. "_Please!_"

Sabe chuckled and walked over to the wall, pressing the panel made to look like part of the stone. The giant marble blocks slid aside, revealing a passage. "I will do my best," she said to Anakin, who scrambled into the opening without delay. "In the meantime, take this straight on with no turns and it will lead you to Padme's door. She will protect you, I imagine. Unless you've pulled pranks on her too."

Anakin winked at her as he turned and run into the blackness. She closed the passage behind him.

It was not a moment too soon. Eirtae barreled around the corner, her face scarlet. "Where is he!"

"Why Eirtae," Sabe said with studied innocence. "What's wrong?"

"That…that…_child,"_ Eirtae spluttered, wringing her hands with helpless rage. "He took apart my datapad and FAILED to put it back together again."

Sabe pressed her lips together, glancing toward a metal vent embedded in the wall. A pair of blue eyes peered through. They lowered guiltily at Eirtae's words.

"What are you looking at?" Eirtae asked suspiciously.

Sabe snapped to attention and shoved her basket into Eirtae's hands. "Oh, nothing! I just think I hear the Queen calling. Could you take that downstairs? Thanks!"

Sabe hurried off in the other direction, leaving a bewildered Eirtae in the hall with a basket in her hands.

* * *

The ship turned in mid air fifty feet above ground, its faded red paint looking even more so in the bright sunshine. Two hundred eyes watched it. It was one of those transcendent moments when everyone knew what everyone else was thinking. 

As the ramp descended and the Senate guard marched out to meet the Naboovian Troops, Queen Amidala turned to Nute Gunray imprisoned with his chief advisor. "Now, Viceroy, you're going to have to go back to the senate and explain all this."

Sabe studied their enemies, fallen to defeat and shame now. It did not seem like enough. Captain Panaka seemed to agree as he approached the two. His voice shook with suppressed rage. "I think you can kiss your trade franchise good bye." His hold was none too gentle on Nute Gunray's arm as he dragged the Viceroy toward the Senate Guard.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sabe watched Obi-Wan and Anakin as they walked forward. Obi-Wan touched Anakin's shoulder, and the boy bowed to the Chancellor. Obi-Wan followed suit. His face was clear of the wild grief she had last seen on it, but he wore a blank look she found even more disturbing.

"We are indebted to you for your bravery, Obi-Wan Kenobi," The Chancellor said. Then he glanced at the boy that he had not before deigned to notice. "And you, young Skywalker. We shall follow your career with great interest."

Sabe wondered when he had begun using the royal "we". He certainly seemed to have settled comfortably into the roll of Supreme Chancellor. His air was all triumph and self-satisfaction as he approached the Queen with a quick stride.

But Queen Amidala seemed to have forgiven him his opportunism. She favored him with a gracious smile. "Congratulations on your election, Supreme Chancellor."

"Your boldness has saved our people," Palpatine gushed. "It's you who should be congratulated."

Sabe resented his hand on Queen Amidala's arm and his companionable air as he continued. "Together, we shall bring peace and prosperity to the republic."

_The cost… _Sabe's eyes drifted back to Obi-Wan and Anakin, and then beyond to the ramp of the Chancellor's ship, where now she could see twelve figures dressed in varying shades of brown and chocolate slowly descending the platform. She swayed as theirForce presencesreached her, and remembered the way those stern faces looked from the vantage point of a five-year-old; distant, unyielding, and terrifying.

Now their power was no less awesome, but she felt the same way looking at them as she often felt looking at the magnificent water falls of Theed or the towering peaks of the southern mountains; a small part of something immense, completely insignificant and grateful for the knowledge of it. Again Obi-Wan prompted Anakin to bow and bent low himself. Sabe felt like joining them.

Queen Amidala and the Chancellor turned, walking toward the bridge to the Plaza together. "Tonight we memorialize Qui-Gon Jinn, Supreme Chancellor. He gave his life defending mine," the Queen told him.

"This is grave news indeed," said the Chancellor. "We must give every honor to those who give their lives for the greater good."

The empty platitude made a wave of nausea hit Sabe's stomach. It must have shown on her face despite her cloak, for there was a quiet voice at her ear.

"Politics must unfortunately be conducted by politicians," Obi-Wan murmured for her ears only.

Sabe attempted to smile, but succeeded only in a wan approximation. She saw the same forced, humorless expression on his face as they followed the Queen and Chancellor back toward the palace.

* * *

The drum roll vibrated in her bones, in her throat, in her very heart as the hooded Jedi Knight lowered the torch to the bed of kindling on which the body of Qui-Gon lay. She had fortunately only had rare occasions to attend funerals in Naboo, and would still have found their practice of public cremation grotesque even if she had not known the man they celebrated. 

The body did not look like a mere shell to her. It looked like Qui-Gon. He appeared to be only sleeping quietly, his face wearing the same composed expression it always did. As the flames began to lick at his robes and then burn through them, she fully expected him to flinch, sit up, and assure them that it had all been some sort of mistake. She wanted to beat the flames out, scream at them all for being stupid. How could they imagine that Qui-Gon was dead? It was ridiculous.

But Qui-Gon did not move. As the flames began to take away his features and identity, as the horrid smell of burnt hair and flesh filled the air of the temple, her breath came fast and panic began to cover her.

_No, this isn't right. It can't be. _

She looked around for help, but every face she saw stared unflinchingly at the ghastly spectacle, eyes made blood red by the firelight. She felt a scream building.

_HE SAVED US! HOW CAN YOU JUST STAND THERE?_

It was then that she heard Obi-Wan's voice, just audible above the crackling of the flames.

"He is at one with the Force now, Anakin. You must let him go."

_I will NOT._

For that one moment, she hated him. It was only sheer force of will that kept her from pushing through the crowd and running from the temple.

A group of veiled Naboovian women stepped forward and opened the reed cages they carried, and a flock of white doves struggled out, their wings beating against one another as they flew into the smoke rolling up through the circular hole in the ceiling. Smoke and birds together streamed out of the temple, and the body was gone.

* * *

"The creature that Qui-Gon fought in the desert, and again in the royal hangar was a Sith Lord." 

Master Mace Windu's words seemed dire in the quiet atmosphere of the library, though none of them understood their meaning exactly. Queen Amidala leaned forward in her chair. "A Sith Lord?" she repeated.

"Yes," Master Windu said. "A user of the dark arts. The Jedi have not seen a live Sith in a thousand years."

The Queen pursed her lips and looked around at the twelve Jedi seated in the library in various attitudes. She had called them together to question them further about Master Jinn's death, and to brief them on all the events that had transpired. "Why was I not told about this sooner?"

"Sure, we had to be," Master Yoda said. "Expected, this was not."

"After Padawan Kenobi's experience with the dark warrior and our own examination of the body, there can be no doubt," Master Windu added.

"Why would an enemy of the Jedi be interested in Naboo?" Captain Panaka asked.

Master Yoda folded his small green hands across his twisted little staff and rested his chin on top of them. "Know, we do not. Complex are Sith schemes. Seeking power, they always are."

"It seems counterproductive to attack Naboo," The Queen said. "We may be a lush planet, but we have hardly any real power in the Republic. The invasion proved it."

"Well, regardless, the Sith was defeated," Panaka said. "It doesn't really matter now what he was after, does it?"

"Actually, Captain Panaka, Master Yoda and I have good reason to believe the Sith was not alone," Master Windu said.

"And what reason would that be?" Captain Panaka asked irritably. He had grown no love for Jedi during the course of the Invasion.

"Sith tradition," Master Windu replied.

"Two there always are," Master Yoda added emphatically. "One power to hold, the other power to crave."

Captain Panaka and the Queen looked at one another. "You will find the other Sith, of course?"

Master Windu shook his head. "We will try. Sith are notoriously skilled at shielding their presences, and are often in possession of vast resources. The second Sith could be anywhere in the Galaxy."

"A credit to our young padawan it is, that able to defeat the Sith he was—" Master Yoda said, glancing toward where Obi-Wan sat.

The rough scrape of Obi-Wan's chair being pushed back interrupted Master Yoda's words, and everyone turned toward the sound. He stood, his eyes hidden by shadow. "Excuse me, your highness. Masters," He said, bowing. He turned and strode from the room.

Master Yoda and Master Windu exchanged pensive looks, but said nothing.

Sabe's eyebrows drew together. She didn't notice much more of the meeting. As soon as it was adjourned and she had waited the appropriate amount of time for no one to suspect her purpose, she crept quickly from her place.

* * *

The cobblestones she crept over were streaked with the oil of the assault tanks and with rust colored stains that might have been blood. Jagged shards of transparisteel glittered in the moonlight, and the rubble of a fallen structure nearly obstructed the path to the palace gardens. 

After picking her way over the debris she felt a rush of both relief and dismay. The great stone fountain was badly damaged, the statue of an old Naboovian hero lying face down in the cloudy water. The paths were broken, shrubs and trees uprooted, and many of the precisely laid flowerbeds trampled.

But white roses still twined around the destruction, star flowers opened their nocturnal blooms to the sky, and blood tulips waved proudly in the brisk, rain-scented breeze from the west. Sabe looked around, her feelings churning. The flowers would bloom, the great falls of Theed would still spread lacy curtains of water over the rocks, and the constellations would still move overhead in their slow, ancient dance. Still, things would never return to exactly how they had been.

Suddenly she raised her head, the familiar, quiet presencealerting her. Around a curve in the path she saw the tall, broad-shouldered figure outlined against the night sky, just before the low wall overlooking the Verdugo Falls.

He sensed her, of course, but he said nothing as she joined him at the overlook. His eyes were fixed on the western horizon. She followed his gaze to the clouds boiling and building there with lightning snaking between them.

A powerful storm.

As it approached, peals of thunder made the ground rumble beneath their feet. She watched the slow progress of the rain column over the lake, finally reaching them and enveloping them in cold, stinging drops.

At last he turned his orphan's eyes to her. "Anakin?"

She smiled, folding her arms across the rough-hewn stone of the overlook wall. "With Padme."

Obi-Wan nodded, his face thoughtful and for once, unguarded.

"What…" Sabe hesitated, remembering the boy's face at the funeral. "What will happen to him?"

"I promised that I would train him," Obi-Wan said.

"The council will allow it?" Sabe asked in surprise.

Obi-Wan gripped the stone tightly with his hands, leaning heavily on the wall. "It does not matter. I promised."

It was needless to ask who he had promised.

A sharp crack of thunder made the ground shudder beneath them and the lightning made night into day for a split second. Sabe drew her cloak tightly around her. The storm seemed almost to penetrate her spirit, as did the turmoil that pulsed from Obi-Wan with every shuddering breath he took. Sabe thought she ought to know what to say or do, but she did not. Except—

"He loved you, Obi-Wan." Another loud rumble nearly drowned out her words, but from the tension in his hands upon the wall she knew he'd heard her. "Perhaps he was not supposed to, but he did."

His words were equally quiet. She moved closer to hear. "I know."

He straightened and swallowed,facing her. "I was not the only one he cared for."

Sabe hung her head.

"He spoke of you, years after you left. Wondered how you had fared."

Sabe exhaled shakily, hugging herself as she squeezed her eyes shut. She went still and looked up sharply as she felt the feather-light touch of his hand on her forehead, sliding the hood over her hair and away from her face. His hand lingered alongside her cheek. Smiling sadly, he traced her cheekbone with his thumb.

Anakin's voice rose above the others from the palace windows, catching their attention. Obi-Wan turned toward it rather guiltily. "I should go to him."

"No," Sabe said. "Let him remain where he is, a normal boy for one more night. And until morning, you can remain a padawan."

Obi-Wan turned back toward the Falls with lowered eyes.

"He's still speaking to us," Sabe thought she was offering reassurance until she heard herself adding, "Isn't he?"

Obi-Wan's brow furrowed. "The Jedi believe that we relinquish our identities when we unite with the Force."

Sabe's shoulders slumped.

His arm slid around them, pulling her nearer. Surprised, she stood rigidly for a moment. Then she turned into the contact with a sigh. Raindrops fell from the spiky ends of his hair onto her face as he rested his chin against her forehead.

"Still," He whispered, his breath ghosting across her skin. "I feel as if he is very near to me now. Close enough to touch."

The stood that way for a long time, until the rain passed on and the thunder quieted.

* * *

**A/N : Second scene I wrote planning this story. I never liked the fact that they cut straight from the funeral to the celebration that have just been invaded do not go back to normal in one day, darn it. Andnobody is stoic enough to get over a beloved mentor that quick. Anyway, hope you like. Read n' review :-)**


	15. Celebration

**Chapter Fourteen:** Celebration

_Theed, Naboo_

"How are we to guard the Queen in these ridiculous outfits?" Sabe blurted out, attempting to pull up the neckline of her dress to cover more skin.

"Oh, I expect we will manage," Rabe smiled, touching the side of her own dress where her blaster was concealed in a holster. She took a firm hold of Sabe's shoulders. "Now stay still! I'll never get this right if you don't stop squirming." She set about combing Sabe's hair again.

Since none of the girls had much in the way of formal outfits for the celebration to be held that evening, Padme had generously opened her wardrobe to them. Sabe had watched with amusement as the other four handmaidens rifled through the lavish gowns with the enthusiasm of children in a candy shop. Even the tomboyish Eirtae had participated with uncharacteristic girlishness, picking a black lace concoction that turned her from a rough and tumble bodyguard to a proper lady of the court.

But when Padme had noticed Sabe hanging back, she'd gotten a particularly sadistic twinkle in her cinnamon colored eyes. She'd ordered Eirtae and Rabe to pick something stunning for her before sweeping out of the room with Sache and Yane in tow.

And what they'd chosen, well… Sabe looked down at her gown doubtfully. The delicate chiffon looked as if a strong wind might carry it off. "Is this absolutely necessary?"

"Absolutely," Rabe replied without the slightest sympathy.

"What's the matter, Sabe?" Eirtae said. "You throw yourself in front of Tusken Raiders in the middle of a raging sand storm, you face droids and destroyers without flinching, you _walk right up_ to the leader of an invasion in the middle of a battle, but a little dress has you quaking?"

Sabe sent her a withering look and then winced as Rabe pulled the comb through a particularly uncomfortable snag.

"I'll finish this up, Rabe."

They all turned in surprise. Padme was dressed for the gala in a flowing gown of blue silk with her hair piled on top of her head and pearls and flowers woven in. It was really rather simple considering her usual wardrobe. "You two go on downstairs. We'll be along shortly."

They bowed and walked out.

Padme came forward. Sabe started to stand. "Please, Padme. It's hardly appropriate for a Queen to dress her handmaiden's hair."

Padme put a firm hand on her shoulder and pushed her back into the chair. "No arguments. You've been serving me for days without a break. It is my turn."

Sabe surrendered with a sigh to her ministrations, and Padme began combing her hair, dividing it into sections and beginning small braids. Sabe watched her in the mirror, biting her lip as she bent over a strand in concentration. Sabe grinned and allowed herself to relax.

"My mother used to do this for me," Padme said softly. "Sometimes I'd fall asleep sitting up because her touch was so soothing."

Sabe could see what she meant. She hadn't been this serene in days.

She saw a furrow appear between Padme's brows in the reflection. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting," Padme said.

"Why? _I'm _sorry. I had no business questioning you so often," Sabe looked down at her hands ruefully. "Sometimes I forget that you are my boss now rather than my old school chum."

"Gods, I miss those days," Padme exclaimed. "No wars, no politics, no intrigue. Just the dear old academy, the gruff professors, and our schoolyard."

"Where you ruled the social scene as gracefully as you rule Naboo now," Sabe joked.

"Not always," Padme grimaced. "Remember that day Roark Tyndal set fire to my favorite policy book? I cried for hours."

"How could I forget?" Sabe muttered. "I was suspended for three days."

"Why?" Padme asked in surprise.

"I…broke his nose," said Sabe, coloring.

"Really? Is that why it suddenly became so crooked? Why did you never tell me?" Padme asked.

Sabe winced. "I wasn't particularly proud of it. I was a little savage then, and I knew it."

Padme considered for a moment or two, taking a feather from the vanity. "It isn't an easy job you have, protecting someone who constantly resists protection. I don't thank you enough for it."

"It isn't necessary," Sabe murmured. "I do it because I want to."

"Still," Padme said. "It isn't just protection you give me. There are times when your council means more to me than anyone else's."

Sabe raised her head. "Really?"

"Of course. Governor Bibble and Captain Panaka are wise men, devoted to Naboo. But they don't know me as you do. I'm the Queen to them and nothing more. You have never changed toward me, regardless of my election."

Sabe could suddenly think of nothing to say.

"Someday…" Padme continued, smoothing back her hair with gentle hands. "I may not have you near to tell me what I don't want to hear. To keep me honest and balance me."

"That's nonsense," Sabe said fervently. "I'll always be behind you."

Padme smiled. "Don't be silly. You'll get tired of being a handmaiden eventually, especially after my term is up and I'm just a simple village girl in the mountains again. You'll want to make your own life, maybe even enter public service yourself."

"I would be a terrible politician," Sabe said with distaste. "Besides, even if I did find something else to do, I'd always be thinking about you, wondering where you were and what you were doing."

Padme eyes misted in the mirror. She bent and kissed the top of Sabe's head. Then she tucked in a final feather and stepped back. "There," she said with satisfaction. "Don't ever let it be said that the Queen cannot dress hair."

Sabe stood and looked at herself critically. Padme had arranged her hair in a figure eight on the side of her head with the feathers arching over it. With her hair as red as ever and no force illusion or makeup to obscure her face, she didn't look anything like Padme. But for once she couldn't help but be pleased with her appearance. "I feel ridiculously formal," she said with a blush.

"Well, you look lovely. Jedi Kenobi will be speechless," Padme said.

Sabe glanced at her and then coughed quickly to cover her embarrassment. 'I don't know what you mean."

A corner of Padme's mouth turned up mischievously. "I think you do."

The knock on the door was well timed. Sabe opened it and suppressed a tiny sigh to find Chancellor Palpatine standing there. She bowed.

"I have come to personally escort the Queen to the Gala," He said, and looked at her with interest. "Pardon me, but I do not believe we have been introduced."

"Forgive me, Lord Chancellor. I am Sabe," she said.

"Lovely to meet you, Miss…ah…" He prompted.

Sabe hesitated. If she had a last name, she'd never known what it was.

"Naberrie," Padme cut in, coming forward and linking her arm with Sabe's.

"A family member, then? Well, this is an unexpected honor," the Chancellor said grandly. "You must be very proud."

"Yes," Sabe said distractedly.

"Chancellor, I will meet you in the Great Hall in just a moment," Padme said.

He inclined his head politely and turned back down the hall.  
"You don't have to lie for me, Padme," Sabe said softly. "I am done with being ashamed of where I came from."

"It was not a lie, Sabe," Padme said. She touched Sabe's cheek tenderly. "You are more than a sister to me."

* * *

Padme sent Sabe ahead to walk with Rabe and Eirtae to the field outside Theed where the celebration had been set. Though many had expected it to take place at the palace, the wounded and ill still being cared for in the Great Hall had made that impractical. Besides, Padme had said, this was not to be a celebration for the nobility of Naboo, but for everyone, the rich, the poor, and the Gungans. Despite the rustic setting, the field had been made to look as a starscape with millions of twinkling lights in the branches of the surrounding trees. The grass had been mown short, and both Naboovian and Gungan musicians were setting up on a platform on the southern side. Overhead the skies matched the trees, perfectly clear and twinkling with innumerable stars. The air was sweet with the recent rain and the scent of flowers. Two full harvest moons rose in the east, plump and red on the purple horizon.

Evidently, not all of the nobles approved of Queen Amidala's choice of locale. "Most irregular…" Sabe heard from behind her. "And to have these Gungans present at an official state function? It's embarrassing."

Sabe was trying to think of a scathing reply, but to her astonishment, Rabe beat her to it. The dark-haired girl whirled around, her eyes flashing. "You pompous ingrate!" She hissed. "If it weren't for 'these Gungans', you wouldn't have the luxury of being embarrassed!"

Sabe and Eirtae exchanged amazed looks and then trotted to keep up as Rabe stormed off, staring at her with eyes the size of dinner plates. "R-Rabe…" Sabe stuttered. "I think that is the most uncharitable thing you have ever said. Well done!"

"Evidently someone has had a change of heart," Eirtae said, winking at Sabe.

"Just – the nerve! I know I've had my prejudices in the past, but no matter how we disagree, they helped us to save Naboo!" Rabe spluttered.

As they entered the field, Sabe surveyed the crowd. Already a dozen couples twirled in a Naboovian waltz. There were even a few Gungans trying it out. She saw Amidala arrive with Chancellor Palpatine and join a group of senators who had come the previous day. Her lip curled. Even Naboo was not free of the tangle of politics. No doubt these expected to cash in on their association with the now famous Queen Amidala.

Amidala had spared no expense in transporting the families of her staff members from all parts of Naboo. Sabe saw Captain Panaka standing with a lovely, olive-skinned woman with flowing dark hair and round black eyes. His wife, she decided. She couldn't help gaping as he lowered his head and kissed the woman full on the mouth. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined the stern-faced man making a woman giggle like that. Many of the palace guards were also around him, accompanied by an assortment of wives, sweethearts, parents, and children. There was not an unhappy face to be found among them, though the group of Jedi Masters standing off to the side kept their faces arranged in dignified frowns.

Suddenly, Rabe's fingers dug clawlike into Eirtae's arm, and she pointed a shaky hand across the field. Sabe followed their gaze to a group of people standing with Sache and Yane. In two of the couples, she recognized variations on her friends' faces.

"Mama?" Eirtae whispered.

She and Rabe hurried toward the group. Eirtae leaped into the arms of a plump, flaxen-haired woman, and Rabe embraced a couple with her dark hair and eyes. Sabe smiled, trying to ignore the little ache that had begun somewhere in her chest. After all, it was true what Eirtae had said before. She'd had no one waiting in Theed to worry about.

A shrill feminine laugh interrupted her thoughts. She looked curiously toward a crowd of young girls and women, but she could not quite see the people they were fawning over. Creeping closer, she just caught a teenaged brunette's question to the object of her adoration. "Could I hold your sword?"

"Absolutely not,"Obi-Wan said, adding in a mutter, "Even if I did know where it was."

The women shifted, and Sabe was able to see Obi-Wan. He wore a cream-colored dress tunic, and would have looked quite handsome if not for the miserable look on his face. Anakin stood at his side looking bewildered but polished with his fresh padawan's cut and smart new outfit.

Sabe shrank behind some people standing nearby and continued to listen, the corners of her mouth twitching.

An older woman had not seemed to catch Obi-Wan's scorn, for her voice continued in what she must have thought was a seductive tone. "Jedi Kenobi, I have often heard that Jedi Knights do not marry."

"No, my lady, we do not."

The woman affected dismay. "How terrible. Whatever do you do for companionship?"

"I can assure you that we are not locked away in solitary cells," Obi-Wan replied in monotone.

The woman gave a high, false laugh and drew uncomfortably close to Obi-Wan, running a hand over his sleeve. "Well, of course, Jedi Kenobi. But surely Jedi like all living things must satisfy their more primal—"

"Excuse me ladies," Obi-Wan interrupted hastily, grabbing Anakin by the arm and dragging him through the group. "But the young one and I have some important business requiring our _immediate _attention."

But the unfortunate knight did not get far. He was immediately ambushed by Liodne Bibble, the Governor's daughter, and half-dragged to the dance floor. To Sabe's surprise, he proved to be an able dancer, navigating both the complicated maneuvers of the folk dance and Liodne's giggling flirtation with relative ease.

"You should try and procure the next one."

Sabe turned to see Padme's dark eyes dancing with mischief. "Next what?"

"The next dance with Jedi Kenobi, of course," Padme replied slyly. She gestured toward him. "Give him reason to leave off that sullen expression."

Sabe burst into laughter. "I think more dancing would only worsen his mood. Besides, why would I want to dance with a cantankerous Jedi?"

Padme turned coy. "Really, Sabe. I saw the way you looked when he carried you in his arms at the Gungan temple."

Sabe rolled her eyes. "You are ridiculous, Padme."

Padme's eyes twinkled. "You fancy him!"

"He's a Jedi, Padme," Sabe said with exaggerated patience.

"That isn't a denial."

Sabe was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation, and increasingly close to a blush. "He's like a brother to me," she said dismissively.

Padme turned away from her, a disbelieving smirk on her face. "Okay."

She couldn't help but look in his direction again. His eyes were trained on his dance partner, a particularly impish look on his face that didn't seem to be entirely due to Liodne's wit. Horrified, she wondered if he could sense that they were talking about him. The memory of the warm weight of arm on her shoulder only yesterday came back to her. "Perhaps…not exactly like a brother," she murmured, believing Padme to be out of earshot.

"Ha!" Padme exclaimed in triumph, whirling back around. Several dignitaries nearby turned and stared, startled to see the normally aloof Queen behaving so girlishly. Sabe put her hands over her burning cheeks.

Ironically, Sabe was saved from further humiliation by none other than young Lord Tyndal.

"Excuse me, your highness, but may I be so bold as to ask you for a dance?" he asked, bowing deeply to Padme.

Padme grimaced, but it was gone before he could see it. "Of course, Lord Tyndal, she replied, extending her hand gracefully.

As he led her into a waltz, Padme turned back toward Sabe, a mischievous grin playing on her face behind her makeup. "Don't forget that dance," she mouthed, gesturing toward Obi-Wan behind her dance partner's back.

Sabe sighed. Evidently she hadn't heard the end of the Queen's attempts at matchmaking.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan had finally been freed from Liodne's custody, giving her a polite bow before turning back to Anakin with a glower. As soon as they were away from the girl, Anakin shook his head dazedly. "Women."

"—Are sometimes second only to the Dark Side for sheer perniciousness," Obi-Wan finished for him grimly.

Anakin looked up at the sound of Sabe's smothered giggles. His eyes lit up.

"Wi_zard_!' He whistled approvingly, tugging at Obi-Wan's robe sleeve. "Look, Master! Look at Sabe!"

Obi-Wan followed his gaze as they came near to where she stood torn between greeting them and slipping away. As he recognized her, he froze mid-step. His mouth opened but for a moment nothing came out. Sabe fidgeted.

"You look quite—" Obi-Wan swallowed visibly. "—cold."

She blushed furiously and ducked her head, just in time to catch Anakin giving his master a disgusted look.

An authoritative female voice spoke up behind her in court accent.

"Jedi Kenobi, Sabe is without a partner, and you do not look preoccupied. This defies logic."

Sabe's horror left her speechless for a moment. "No, Padme."

Obi-Wan regained his composure. "I suppose it does, your highness," he said lightly, half-bowing to Sabe and extending his hand. "How about a dance between two old sparring partners?"

Sabe's eyes threw daggers at Padme as she took Obi-Wan's arm. "Very well,"

As they joined the crowd of dancers, Sabe glanced up. Obi-Wan's eyes were twinkling mercilessly. "I beat you at that spar, remember."

"That was never settled," He replied, leading her easily in the steps, seeming to catch the movements as if he had been doing it for years.

She was not quite so skilled. Obi-Wan grunted as she accidentally planted a high-heeled shoe squarely on the toe of his boot. "You know, for a member of the Queen's court—"

"Not, a word Jedi," she interrupted darkly. "While the other handmaidens were learning court manners and dancing, I was perfecting the art of throwing knives."

He mumbled something she didn't catch, and she leaned forward. "What?"

'I said, 'touché'," he repeated with a smile.

She grinned. "How do you do this so well?"

He raised his eyebrows. "I suppose it's rather like battle. Minus the intention of killing or wounding your partner, of course."

She peered up at him mischievously. "To see your face with Liodne Bibble, one wouldn't think so."

He swung her rather forcefully into a spin. "So you rescue me from Tusken raiders but leave me to the hazards of governor's daughters?"

She gave an enigmatic smile as she carried into the spin and then back. Their eyes locked as their hands met, and for the space of five seconds she couldn't move as the moment in the forests of Paonga repeated itself. The breath left her lungs. His eyes were serious, and as in the forest she could feel the Force flowing between them. It was exactly like the spar had been; a game, one neither of them would win. She turned her eyes away, unable to look directly into his face. She kept them averted throughout the remainder of the dance, and they lapsed into an awkward silence, his hand tightening on hers.

At last the dance ended, and she could not deny her relief as her heart returned to its normal rhythm. Obi-Wan bowed formally.

"My lady."

Sabe stood for a moment, uncertain what to do, and then gave a clumsy attempt at a curtsy. He grinned and returned to where Anakin and Padme were finishing up their own dance.

Shortly, Sabe felt Padme's smug presence at her elbow. "Well—" the Queen began, but before she could properly gloat they both heard Anakin's voice.

"Master, aren't you a little _old _for her?"

Sabe sighed as she heard Padme's unladylike snort of amusement.

"Isn't the Queen a little _old _for you?" Obi-Wan returned evenly.

Padme choked, and Sabe burst into laughter.

Rabe and Eirtae appeared out of nowhere with the shy Sache and giggling Yane close behind them. "Liodne Bibble is beside herself," Yane chortled. "She was already picking out china patterns when she saw you with Jedi Kenobi just now."

Sabe groaned and affected to walk away with her nose in the air, but the girls wouldn't let her get far. They gathered around her.

"Is it just Sabe he likes or handmaidens in general? I wouldn't turn down a dance," Eirtae muttered, looking Obi-Wan over appraisingly.

"Don't waste your breath," Yane said. "I already asked him, and he mumbled something about having the gout."

"I think Sabe must have won his heart all for herself when she skewered that creature in the desert," Rabe teased.

"Enough!" Sabe cried in exasperation.

Just then the didgeridoos growled, starting another rousing folk song. It wasn't long before two soldiers claimed Rabe and Eirtae for a dance, and a blushing young lord asked Sabe. Luckily, it was too fast a piece for her to interact much with the amorous noblemen, and soon enough everyone abandoned their partners to join hands in a giant circle for a wild jig around and around. Sabe watched with surprised delight as Jar Jar Binks joined the Gungan musicians with a flute. It was fortunate that his musical abilities far exceeded his prowess on the battlefield. A round of raucous applause followed his solo, and even the Jedi were smiling and nodding to the music.

Sabe had no lack for partners as the dance went on, and found the complements she received flattering. But she found she could never quite give her dance partners her undivided attention. Too often her gaze tripped over Obi-Wan. Each time she spotted him she found him staring right back, a smile fixed on his face. Closing her eyes, she felt the warm brush of his consciousness from across the room, so that she could almost forget it wasn't him twirling her to the strains of waltzes and folk songs.


	16. Face to face

**Chapter Fifteen **: Face to Face

_Theed, Naboo_

"…So I suggest that the settlement of Otoh D'an begin as soon as possible, to demonstrate to the entire Republic the new cooperation between the Naboo and the Gungan nations," Finished Councilwoman Renair Paolo.

It was the fifth day following the defeat of the Federation, and Queen Amidala had called together her council to meet with Boss Nass and his advisors. The Throne room was twice as crowded as usual, the council members and the Gungan advisors eyeing one another curiously. But the mood was friendly and the meeting had been very productive so far, with Paolo's suggestion of a joint exploration of Naboo's moon, Otoh D'an, being a key issue.

Sabe tried not to fidget, and failed. It was a hot, humid day, and her cloak was miserably heavy and itchy even in the climate-controlled palace. Also, she could not help glancing nervously toward the windows every few minutes. She was glad the folds of her hood hid her roving eyes from the council at least.

"Dis is agreeable to mesa peoples," Boss Nass replied. "Wesa ready wid a team for da moon journey."

"Very good, Boss Nass," said Queen Amidala. "To move to another issue, have you made any progress in your negotiations with the Ankura Gungans of the Southern Wastelands?"

"Mesa sent messengers to da boss of de Ankura. But dey don' want any part of de Naboo," Boss Nass said, a bit apologetically.

"Perhaps it would be beneficial to send representatives of Naboo to prove our good will," The Queen said.

"Mebbe…." Boss Nass said doubtfully.

Sabe clasped her nervous hands together and glanced toward the windows again.

Queen Amidala spared her a look and then turned toward the Council members. "Very well. Let us adjourn. We can meet back here in one hour."

Naboovian and Gungan alike rose from their seats and bowed.

"Boss Nass, we would be honored if you would join us for the midday meal. Governor Bibble will escort you to our dining hall. I will join you there momentarily," Queen Amidala said.

Boss Nass inclined his head in a regal fashion and he and Governor Bibble made their way into the hall, followed by the council and the Gungan advisors.

As soon as the throne room was clear of everyone but the Queen, Eirtae, Rabe, and Sabe, Padme turned to Sabe. "Are you okay?"

Sabe looked at her in confusion. "Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

"You are twitching like a epileptic kaadu. It's driving me batty," Padme said.

Sabe ducked her head, coloring. "Forgive me. I just—"

"I know," Padme looked toward the windows a bit longingly. "I want to go to them, too. But it looks as if this meeting will take up most of the day."

Sabe tried not to let her impatience show, staring at her hands in her lap.

"I suppose I better send you to relate my good will. If I keep you here, you may end up causing a diplomatic incident," Padme said with a grin.

"But who will stand in for me? Sache still isn't quite well," Sabe said, still ashamed that Padme had noticed her distraction.

"She is well enough to sit in a chair, I imagine," Padme said. "Go and send her back to take your place."

Sabe was already standing and starting toward the door eagerly.

"Sabe."

She turned back to Padme.

"Tell Anakin my heart goes with him," Padme said with a smile.

* * *

Sabe managed to keep her walk slow and dignified across the Palace Square. But as soon as she was out of sight of the main street and the palace windows, she gave into her eagerness and began running toward the landing dock.

She almost tripped over the boy who was hidden among the equipment on the near side of the bridge, wailing inconsolably.

"Ani?" She said in concern.

He immediately quieted and looked up, scrubbing the tears furiously from his face with the sleeve of his tunic. Giving her a pathetically wobbly smile, he said, "Oh, hi Sabe."

Sabe crouched beside him and put a gentle hand to his cheek, brushing the remainder of his tears away with her fingertips. His lower lip began to tremble but he pressed his lips together tightly, determined to look tough

"Padme sends her love. She couldn't get away to see you off. She and the Gungans are deep in negotiation," Sabe explained.

It was a triumph, of course. No similar negotiations had taken place for centuries. But seeing him so forlorn, Sabe couldn't suppress a little flash of irritation at Padme for not sparing a few moments for her young friend.

Anakin waved off her concern, his voice thick with false bravado. "It's okay. Anyway, I'll see her again soon. I'm going to marry her one day."

Sabe's eyebrows flew up. She did not envy Obi-Wan the eventual conversation about the finer points of the Jedi Code. "You're so certain?"

"Of course," the boy said matter-of-factly.

"What if you change your mind?" Sabe asked in amusement. "As a Jedi, I imagine you'll be much too busy for silly things like girls and weddings."

"I'll never be too busy for Padme," Anakin intoned solemnly, and his eyes began to fill again. But before she could remark on them, he pulled away and ran toward the ship, probably to where he could cry without anyone seeing. "Bye!" He yelled casually over his shoulder, as if they would see one another every day.

"Bye," Sabe murmured, and then stood chuckling.

She felt his presence behind her as a sudden stillness deep within. She smiled sadly. "You will be missed, Obi-Wan."

He joined her, and together they began walking toward the bridge to the landing platform. "I find that hard to believe," he said. "Our departure signals the return of peace to Naboo."

"There is a lot to be done before we return to anything like normal." Sabe sighed. Then she grinned. "But if you are talking about the havoc Anakin has wreaked with his pranks, I would have to agree."

Obi-Wan harrumphed a little. "As if you have never provided him with an escape route."

"Never," Sabe agreed.

"And I still have not decided which of you vandalized my laundry," Obi-Wan continued.

Sabe stumbled. "Obi-Wan?"

"Yes?"

"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about."

Obi-Wan folded his hands within his robe sleeves, his face decidedly smug.

Their steps slowed a little as they neared the bridge, and Sabe's stopped altogether when they reached it. Obi-Wan looked at her questioningly. "When you cross that bridge your life will change," Sabe explained. "I think perhaps I ought to say goodbye on this side."

"As you wish," Obi-Wan said softly.

Sabe's face lit up. "Oh how terrible. I nearly forgot."

She reached within her cloak and withdrew an oblong object wrapped in cloth and handed it to Obi-Wan. As he took the object from her he looked uncomfortable, and Sabe remembered that the Jedi were not supposed to accept gifts. But his face slackened to abject shock when the cloth fell away to reveal his lightsaber.

"I didn't steal it this time," Sabe said with a shy smile.

"It fell so far…" Obi-Wan breathed.

"Yes. And it was in a sorry state when I found it. It would have been irreparable without your mechanical wizard of a padawan," Sabe said.

He stared down at it, turning it over and over. His fingertips quickly found the seams where Anakin had carefully soldered the metal back together. He shook his head wonderingly. "I labored for three months to design this weapon. You are telling me he repaired it in five days?"

Sabe shrugged. "He is very special. More special than any of us realized, perhaps."

Obi-Wan's hands continued to run lovingly over the sleek metal of the elegant weapon, a slight frown on his face. "Qui-Gon saw it. As always."

Sabe mistook his expression for displeasure. "I…I realize how personal an object it is. Perhaps I was presumptuous—"

Her words died in her throat as Obi-Wan's hand came to rest on her shoulder. As she stood stiffly, he bent and pressed his lips to her brow. Her heart pounded in her chest as he spoke softly into her hair. "This means…a great deal. I am overcome."

"It's so small a thing," she murmured. "Nothing to what you have done for Naboo."

They both lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. There was no use pretending that this was a temporary goodbye. Sabe knew enough of the Jedi to realize that when he crossed the bridge before them, he would be a different person entirely; A knight, a mentor, a parent, really, At last Obi-Wan spoke hesitantly.

"I am glad we met again."

"I hope it will not be the last time," Sabe replied, drawing a shaky breath. She was pathetically close to tears, but she did not want him to notice. Raising her head, she forced a smile. "Goodbye, Obi-Wan."

"Goodbye." His voice seemed a little hoarse as he replied, but she might have imagined it. He squeezed her hand between his larger ones. And then, with a swish of his fawn colored robe, he was walking over the bridge.

* * *

_Anakin had already selected his seat, by the window. It was just as well, Obi-Wan reflected. The less he saw of the scenery, the less he would remember the unpleasant fact that he was flying. He settled himself in the seat next to the boy._

_Suddenly his new padawan gave a gasp and pressed his face to the transparisteel. Obi-Wan leaned forward, peering over his shoulder. _

_The Queen and her entourage had arrived. She had not been expected at the landing pad at all, and Anakin had been quite forlorn at not getting to say goodbye. But there she was in all her ceremonial splendor; the girl queen, waving her handkerchief frantically as the engine activated and its roar filled the air. The ship slowly rose from the ground, and Obi-Wan saw her press the handkerchief to her eyes. A glance at Anakin revealed that he too had tears hanging from his lashes._

_He might have been concerned and annoyed that his padawan was starting his training with so firm an attachment already in place. A few days ago he would have been irritated that he had to babysit an emotional nine-year-old. But as he looked at the boy, it seemed that another child sat in his place, a tawny-haired girl with huge, defensive eyes. He sighed, hooking his hand over the boy's slim shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. Anakin looked at him with surprise._

_"Let's go home, padawan," Obi-Wan said gently._

_Anakin nodded, wiping the last of his tears away._

_

* * *

_

The ship's engines fired with a blue-white glow, the roar painfully loud as it slowly rose from the platform, turning in a slow circle in midair. Then its turbines roared to life, propelling it away and sending a strong wind that whipped through the folds of Sabe's cloak and tumbled the hood from her head.

She made no effort to pull it back into place. It felt good to feel the sunshine in her hair, to feel the eyes those around her on her face. She felt light, bouyant, and solace stole into her heart. Her cheeks were wet, but she could do nothing but smile giddily, raising one hand in farewell.

The blue flare as the ship disappeared was like a benediction.


	17. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Jedi Temple, Coruscant_

22 BBY 

There were at least eighty people in the holovid area of the archives, masters and padawans alike, pressed close together around the projector that was showing live reports from the vid news.

"…Scene of turmoil here at the Senate landing pad as ground crews begin to clear the wreckage and investigators begin the slow process of determining the perpetrator of this vile act…"

Obi-Wan sent a surreptitious look at his padawan, cringing at the profound waves of rage and anguish Anakin was sending. The young man's fists were clenched, and his mind was as well. Obi-Wan shook his head slightly. He had learned a great deal during their decade together. But nothing could have prepared him for this, though he had feared something of this kind when they had left Theed after the invasion. Anakin took a shuddering breath, closing his eyes. Obi-Wan felt him attempting to release his tumult into the Force, and felt his failure. He had to get Anakin away from the reports and prying eyes, find some way to provide a healing balm to the black lesion that was spreading across his consciousness.

"…Just in, we are now receiving reports that Padme Naberrie is unharmed. The casualties on the landing pad we previously reported are now believed to be a decoy and handmaiden of the senator…"

Obi-Wan's and Anakin's heads jerked up in unison. Anakin exhaled convulsively, his hands relaxing and his eyes widening in hope. It came to Obi-Wan as a stunning blow in the vicinity of his gut, his former sadness at the loss of an old friend flaring into a bottomless horror at the loss of another.

"Thank the Force, " Anakin exclaimed rather thoughtlessly, and then turned to Obi-Wan as their connection alerted him. "Master?"

Obi-Wan was backing away from the projector. "Just…" He gasped for air, turning to hurry out of the archives. "Just wait here."

Masters, knights, and padawans scrambled out of his way as he half-ran through the corridors, his thoughts racing as he looked for solitude somewhere, anywhere. To his great relief he found the Hall of a Thousand Fountains empty. Probably everyone was gathered around the holovids sprinkled in various parts of the temple. Probably…

He leaned on one of the fountains, closing his eyes against the cooling spray. His muscles seemed to turn to water as well. He sank onto the lip of the fountain, one hand coming up shakily to rake through his hair.

"Our own weaknesses we never see until mirrored in the eyes of our padawans they are," Master Yoda had said once.

_Indeed, _Obi-Wan thought, his head bowing. _Indeed. _

There had been one letter from her, about three months after he and Anakin had left Naboo. His joy at seeing her carefully written name on the flimsy envelope had been unprecedented. But he'd realized soon enough how inappropriate his eagerness and haste were in opening the letter, and after staring at the folded parchment for a full minute, he'd reluctantly discarded it unread. Despite his caution, over the years there had been moments in the hazy place between wakefulness and sleep when he could feel the distant, flickering pulse; the dim signal of a force presence somehow unlike any other he had encountered.

Why had he not sensed it? It couldn't be true, because he had had no inkling of it. Surely if she had…

"Master."

But it was as the Masters had said. The dark side clouded everything now. Everyone had noticed the clarity of the Force weakening. Even Master Yoda was not as certain now as he once had been.

"Master Kenobi."

"What!" Obi-Wan snapped, rounding on the shrinking padawan with flashing eyes.

The squib padawan seemed to become two feet shorter, his large, flat black eyes becoming even larger. "Forgive me, Master. You are being summoned by the Council."

"What do they want?" He knew the padawan didn't really deserve the tone he was using, but he couldn't seem to help it. Why now of all times?

"I'm not certain, Master Kenobi. But I believe you will be assigned to the Naberrie assassination attempt."

Obi-Wan looked back at the rushing curtains of water, the light catching all the little drops in a myriad of colors and patterns. He forced himself to breathe slowly. If there was anything of a Jedi in him, it had to take over now.

"Master?" the padawan said timidly.

Control trickled back into his mind. "Tell them I will be along momentarily," he said quietly.

The padawan bowed and practically ran from the Hall. Obi-Wan stood slowly, brushing the dampness from the front of his robe, passing one hand over his eyes. Then he turned and followed the path of the padawan, squaring his shoulders to his duty.

* * *

**A/N : Here's my theory on why Obi-Wan was so grumpy through AOTC. As far as I can tell, here wasn't much time for chitchat and correcting misconceptions in between the assassination attempt and the Battle of Geonosis. **

**So, that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed this, and your reviews have been so kind and very much appreciated. Keep a look out for the sequel. I'm calling it The Grey Divide and it is Post AOTC, Pre ROTS era.  
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